A Map to Remember Her By
by Lonely Wayfarer
Summary: Based on Animaniac Dude's The Will of D. The Strawhats have fallen. Luffy is the only left after the Marines attacked them in Raftel. But deep inside a cave, Luffy finds two devil fruits that not only hold incredible power but that can speak to him. Now with his new found abilities, the captain of the Strawhats will set out to save his friends and make powerful, new allies. LuNa
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**A Map to Remember Her By**

"Come on! Hurry!"

Tears fell from Nami's eyes as she helped her captain who was injured thanks to the attacks of Akainu and the two other Admirals. Luffy's left arm was frozen from the shoulder to his hand while his other arm had holes in them caused by the beams of light that went through him like bullets. Severe burns covered the rest of his body. He struggled to catch up with Nami as she slowed down often to make sure he was okay.

Just the day before, everyone was fine. They had a party in celebration of finally reaching Raftel, the island where the legendary One Piece laid. All of their hardships were finally rewarded; Zoro had defeated Mihawk when Wado cut straight through Mihawk's sword breaking it in two. Robin found the last Ponyglyph and had uncovered the mystery of the lost century. Sanji found the All-Blue, it was filled with fish from all the seas in the world along with its own species. Chopper was able to cure near all ailments in the world and lived his life under a pirate flag. Usopp had become a brave warrior who showed no fear in battle and would fight from either far away or up close and personal depending on the situation at hand. Franky built and was the shipwright of his dreamboat, one that could sail in the harshest of waters unharmed. Brook fulfilled his promise to Laboon as Raftel was surprisingly close to the Red Line and he was able to play loud enough for the whale to hear. And Nami had just finished a small part of her world map as she finished drawing the last island in the Grand Line.

Then disaster struck. The marines somehow knew that the Strawhats had reached Raftel and they sent a massive fleet, bigger than the ones sent by Buster Calls, to destroy the pirates. After a long and treacherous fight against the Admirals and a near endless horde of Vice-Admirals, Luffy and Nami could no longer fight and they were forced to run into a cave in the middle of the island but the Admirals followed them and were catching up to them. As the two nakama limped and ran for their lives, a beam of light passed through the small space in between both of their heads. "Monkey D. Luffy!" shouted the fleet admiral, "If you surrender now, we may let that friend of yours ago." Before Luffy could respond, Nami placed a hand in his mouth knowing full well that her captain is willing to sacrifice himself for his nakama. Luffy looked at her determined eyes and then at the other hand that wasn't preventing him from speaking and noticed she was carrying her unfinished map, he remembered that she told the crew that she was going to draw the last corner of the island which they haven't explored yet and then she returned running and telling them that the marines had come.

Even though he wasn't allowed to offer himself for the life of his nakama, he still needed to do something or else he and Nami would die at the hands of the approaching marines. He noticed an immense cluster or stalagmites above them. As soon as they passed the stalagmites, he broke free of his navigator's grasp and turned around. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" what little fighting strength he had left, he sent a fist right in the middle of the cluster with his now unfrozen arm as the Admirals passed below the falling rocks. One by one they fell causing a huge cloud of dust that finally disappeared after a full minute. Nami fell to the ground, tears still rolling down towards her chin. Luffy tried to maintain his composure as his eyes also began filling with water.

"The-They're gone… 'sniff' they're really gone…" Nami said to herself, remembering her fallen comrade. Each and everyone fell under the hands of the marines, some even sacrificed themselves to buy Luffy and Nami some time. "I'm sorry Nami," Luffy said with a sad tone in his words, "This is my fault. I trained for two years to become strong enough to defend all of you, to no longer lose anyone I cared for. But it wasn't enough!" His straw hat covered his eyes, he didn't want Nami to know he was crying, it would show a sign of total despair and it would make her feel even worse. Everything was just fine up until the morning, and then an hour later they were in this cave trying to stay alive.

Nami got up and walked up to Luffy and embraced him in a caring hug hoping to make him feel better but he just stood there, he didn't react at all. He felt like a complete failure that can't even defend the people he loves. After a minute or so, Nami broke the hug, "Come on captain, we have to go before others arrive." Luffy looked at her with sad, red eyes and gave a nod. He slowly began walking forward, trying to ignore the pain of his injuries, Nami followed closely behind but then she heard a weird sizzling sound behind them. She turned around and saw that one of the fallen stalagmites had a glowing red spot, her eyes widened at the realization.

"LUFFY LOOK OUT!" Nami pushed her captain away as a stream of magma shot out and it went straight through Nami. Luffy fell to the ground on his stomach and then turned around to see her on the floor with a hole on her chest near to where her heart is and a rock that was melting because of the lava. "NAAAAAMIIIIIIII!" He stood up and ran towards her, then Luffy fell on his knees and held Nami by her neck and lower back. "NAMI! WAKE UP! DON'T DIE! PLEASE!" Luffy began shaking the body of the orange-haired girl in a vain attempt to get her up. He shut his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears but water still escaped from them as he held his last nakama in his arms.

"luffy…" He opened his eyes and saw Nami give him a small smile with a stream of blood leaking from her mouth, "Nami! You're alive! Come on we have to get out of here and find someone to-" She placed a finger on his lips, "I think it's too late for that captain." Luffy grabbed her hand from his mouth and held it tightly "Don't say that Nami! You're going to be fine! You have to finish your dream! You have to finish your map! You still have to live!" "And you have to go… captain," she moved her head a bit towards the fallen stalagmites. Luffy looked at where she was pointing and saw that magma was leaking out slowly and began forming a pair of feet.

"Thank you for everything, Luffy. I know it hasn't been very long, but these past few years with you guys have been the best of my life. You still have your dream, Luffy. Go find One Piece. Go become king of the pirates. Go and be free…" Nami's body went limp on his arms, her smile disappeared and her eyes closed. Luffy just looked at her in disbelief. His navigator, his last friend, his last nakama… had died.

Luffy looked back at the stalagmites and saw that Akainu's feet were now done and that his legs were forming. He gently set Nami on the ground and moved his hands over her soft, long hair before standing up and walking away. He turned around to see her one more time but noticed that her hand was still holding on tightly onto her map. Luffy walked towards her again and took the map as her hand seemingly opened by itself. "Good-bye… Nami," Luffy turned and began running deeper into the cave while setting the map in his hat and putting it back on.

* * *

He ran for what seemed like an eternity, the adrenaline that was pumping through his body had dissipated as the pain came back at full force but he didn't care, he wanted to respect Nami's last wish by finding the One Piece. All of a sudden, he felt something weird. It felt as if water had filled the cave although there was none of it and that time had stopped around him. He felt weird shockwaves of sorts move through out the cave, it felt as if something was calling the rubber man. He once again began running to where the shockwaves were coming from but the closer he got, the more they became frequent and powerful. Luffy's strength began to disappear. At first, it didn't feel like much but reached a point in which he could no longer walk but he couldn't give up. The Admiral may still be chasing after him.

The Strawhat captain fell on the ground and began to crawled to find where this mysterious energy was coming from as the shockwaves kept hitting him harder and harder. He turned a corner and there he found. No it wasn't the legendary One Piece that was before him, it was something more… majestic. It was a tree with weird marking on it similar to the ones on devil fruits, it had leaves of a weird color, one that few know how to describe. Luffy couldn't move, it was unclear to him whether or not it was because of sheer awe or that he had no more strength left in him. Footsteps were heard echoing through out the cave which snapped Luffy back into reality. There was no time left. He tried to stretch out and grab onto the tree but his powers no longer worked. The footsteps grew louder, Luffy once again began to crawl towards the tree. As he did, little seeds of either the color blue or gray came into view. He noted that they also had the same markings as the devil fruits.

Luffy was less than a meter away from the tree. The shockwaves were now blasting into his face with full force, he stretched his arm as much as he could towards it. The footsteps no longer echoed because they were insanely close. Finally, his fingertips touched the tree before he passed out, and the shockwaves stopped. A bright light came from above. Luffy looked up, his eyes widened, the leaves of the tree glowed either blue or gray and the seeds began merging together with their same colored brethren. After watching the spectacle for a few seconds, only two seeds remained, only that they weren't seeds. They were devil fruits. One was as blue as the sea and the other one was onyx colored like his eyes. Luffy felt his energy return to him. He stood up just as the devil fruits fell.

He caught both of them, one on each hand. A strong forced surged through his body just by touching the fruits, a power that seemed to show unlimited potential. But then he felt a bright red light coming from behind as the cave suddenly felt a lot hotter. Luffy turned around and saw a jet of lava come towards him. Before he could react, the onyx colored devil fruit glowed as everything came to a near halt. The lava stream was still moving towards Luffy but at a much slower pace. In fact everything was moving slow, even the marine Admiral was moving slow as a smile was slowly coming to his face as if he has won. Luffy moved away from the trajectory of the elemental ballistic and the devil fruit stopped glowing. Everything went back to normal speed and the magma hit the tree leaving a tiny burn mark.

"Wha-WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Akainu had a face that seemed both surprised and angry, "Stand still Strawhat, and I promise you that you will die a less painful death than your brother." Luffy's confused look suddenly turned into one of anger, the sea colored devil fruit began glowing as if powered by the boy's emotions. The shockwave from before started again. The source of the power was coming from the now glowing devil fruit. Only this time it was no longer affecting Luffy. Akainu on the other hand began screaming, "AAAAHHHH! WHAT FOUL TRICKERY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH ME YOU DAMN PIRATE!" Luffy just stared at him with hateful eyes, the shockwaves became stronger and stronger as Luffy moved closer and closer to the Admiral. Then Akainu's legs were slowly turning to stone as dark as obsidian, "What's going on?! Why can't I use my powers anymore?! What's happening?!" His limbs kept turning into stone in the same rhythm as the shockwaves. The Admiral's head was the only body part left that was still moving and uncovered, "No I can't die! I can't die at the hands of a filthy pir-" The stone crept into his mouth and shut him up. The shockwaves stopped as Luffy set both fruits on the ground. He stretched his arms backwards as much as he could, "This is for Ace and my nakama. **GOMU GOMU NO BAZOOKA!**"

Luffy hit Akainu's body with an immense amount of force that he created a shockwave of his own. The place fell silent as if nothing had happened until the Admiral's body began cracking from the torso and then the cracks began to spread all over his body. Then the stoned body broke into tiny little fragments. Akainu was no more. Luffy felt a great amount of joy and sadness, he didn't like killing people but this man caused so much suffering to him that it felt… good in a sinister way. But he also regretted not having the power to stop this man before he killed everyone he loved. Luffy pulled his hat down onto his eyes, he had a weird feeling of peace, telling him it was all over.

"hey kid…" a faint whisper came from behind. Luffy lifter his head up and turned around but nobody was behind him. "down here rubber boy" it was another voice different from the one he heard before yet he obliged. He looked down and saw both devil fruits glowing. "Hello there Strawhat," both fruits said in unison. Luffy, surprised by the talking fruits, fell to the ground, "You, you, you 'gulp' YOU CAN TALK?!" "Yes, we are both the strongest of all the devil fruits, I am Mizu," said the sea colored fruit. "And I am Jikan," said the onyx colored devil fruit. Luffy just stared at them not knowing what to do. Jikan took initiative, "We present to you a choice for reaching this far into the Grand Line." "Your reward can either be regaining your ability to swim and great power," said Mizu. "Or the power to go back in time and receive the One Piece." "But careful with your decision for if you chose me you won't be able to save your friends." "But if you choose me instead, you won't have the strength necessary to save them or reach the One Piece." Then they said in unison, "So choose wisely."

"But wait," said Luffy, "I already have eaten a devil fruit, won't I die if I eat another?" "That is true," said Jikan, "but we are not ordinary devil fruit for the demons inside of us seek to aid the one worthy of acquiring our power." Luffy's brow stood up while he smirked at the sudden realization. "So if I eat you guys, you can't hurt me right?" Luffy said just to verify that his suspicions are correct, "That's right, we only seek to aid you on your quest but be careful on who you choose for it may cost you your friends, or your own liIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE!"

Luffy grabbed both of the fruits as they screamed in confusion, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He then stuffed both Mizu and Jikan at into his mouth at the same time while they screamed at him, "YOU CAN'T EAT US BOTH! THAT'S NOT HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO WORK YOU RUBBER BRAINED IDIOT!" "Whhy nhot? Ywou ghuys sais ywou cwan't wurt 'GULP' me." Luffy swallowed them both at the same time as both devil fruits shouted at him in unison, "YOU FOOL! YOU HAVE MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE! NOW FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!" Luffy felt a sensation, a terrible sensation, one that he hasn't experience in many years only two times as worse. He began spitting onto the ground begging it to stop, soon enough he began gagging as the voice from the two fruits began laughing at him with an evil chuckle. "You have brought this upon yourself mortal," said Jikan. "Now DIE and join the rest of your friends!" shouted Mizu. Luffy started gasping for air, his face became greener than Zoro's hair until his body fell limp onto the ground, his tongue sticking out and his eyes completely blank.

"What a daring little boy, thinking that he could tame us both. He had guts but his selfishness was his undoIIIIIING!" Luffy all of a sudden sat up and gave a stretch, Mizu and Jikan just made a continuous 'aaaaaaa' sound surprised that the boy was still alive. "Wow," said Luffy, "You guys taste worse than the Gomu Gomu fruit, I was about to throw you guys up!" He gave a small chuckle, Mizu and Jikan finally stopped making the previously mentioned weird noise. "YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!" "No I shouldn't, you guys said that you can't hurt me so I just decided to eat you both," Luffy stood up and shot his arms into the air. "Now I have the strength and the abilities to go back and save my naka-" An onyx glow surrounded the boy with the straw hat and before he even realized it he disappeared to god knows where.

* * *

Luffy slowly and steadily began to open his eyes to an unfamiliar surrounding. Everything seemed to have a weird shade of transparent blue on it similar to the one Mizu had. He looked around and found fish moving around him with large pieces of grass that stood up by themselves that swayed back and forth. 'What are fish and seaweed doing on land' Luffy thought to himself. He then took a good look at his surroundings and noticed how he was floating in midair or, in this case, midsea.

At the realization that he was underwater, Luffy grasped his neck as tightly as possible as if he were trying to keep air inside of him, "YOU FOOL! DON'T DO THAT! IF YOU DIE WE DIE ALONG WITH YOU!" A voice shouted from inside of Luffy who he ignored as he was preoccupied in strangling himself without knowing. "I'll take care of this," currents of water wrapped around Luffy's arms and pried his hands out of his neck, "Now breathe you imbecile." He took a quick gulp of water and Luffy felt the drowning sensation disappear from him.

"I-I can breathe?" "Yes you idiot you ate both of us remember?" said a voice that Luffy immediately recognized as the voice of Jikan, "EEHHHH! You guys are still here?! I ate you!" "Of course we are still here," said Mizu, "While we are conscious devil fruits, we should've disappeared into your psyche once you ate us but thanks to the fact that you ate us both and that there isn't enough room in that tiny little mind of yours for the three of us, we remain conscious."

"You still haven't answered my question, why can I breathe underwater?" Luffy moved his arms around, "And swim for that matter? Also we where are we?"

"BAKA!" said Mizu, "If you would have realized that my name is 'water' then you'd know I'm a devil fruit that can control water and its properties so now you can breathe underwater and you can also swim." "Lets not forget that we told you this before you ate us," said Jikan, "So if you were paying any attention and if you would have realized that my name is 'Time' then you'd know that I can control time. Also you'd realize that I just made us time travel."

"You guys are starting to sound a lot like Nami and her insu- 'GASP'! HER MAP!" Luffy took his hat off his head and looked inside believing that the map may be all crumpled up and damaged thanks to the water. He let out a sigh of relief seeing that the map looks as good as the day she began drawing on it. "It's a good thing Nami made the map with that Mystery Paper she got a few years back!" 'Mystery… Paper…?' thought Jikan and Mizu.

"Hey whose this Nami girl and why does the map only have the Grand Line while it holds a scale for it to be of the entire world?" asked Mizu but before Luffy could respond, Jikan said, "One sec, I'll check." Luffy felt as if his brain was rewinding and then playing every single event on his life, "Okay done, apparently the map is unfinished because the girl named Nami died who is Luffy's navigator from a small crew consisting of-" "I don't wanna hear you go on for years talking about the kid's life story, I can do that too you know." "Then why did you ask him?" "Shut the fuck up Jikan," Luffy felt blood rushing to his head as his life flashed before him again, "AAAAHHH! Stop that! It's getting really annoying," "Don't worry that's the last time, I promise." Said Mizu.

"Anyways you guys haven't answered my question, where are we?"

"I ALREADY FUCKING TOLD YOU WE TIME TRAVELED!"

"Oww! My head," he rubbed his temple for a bit, "I already knew that but when and where exactly?"

"We are in Raftel," Jikan said, "millions of years in the past, before the island has even surfaced and below you is the reward for your long journey." Luffy looked below him and saw the treasure which he was searching for since he began his journey from Foosha village. The One Piece lay before him, immense amounts of gold that make the city of gold look like a run down place, gems of many variations including ones that no one knew existed covered every square inch, and diamonds the size of cannonballs were found surrounding statues of ancient idols. The rubber boy never had much interest for treasure yet this staggered him. There was so much that it would give Nami a bigger nosebleed than Sanji if he were to go to Amazon Lily. Luffy tried to find words to describe the One Piece as much as he could but no words came to mind.

"Impressive isn't it?" Luffy just gave a nod in agreement as he finally had some words to say, "Wh-wha-wh-what is it doing down here and in a million years in the past?" "w, while Gol D. Roger did say that anyone who finds One Piece gets to keep it, he was still very stingy about his treasure. He made sure that only somebody daring or brave enough with strong enough willpower be able to get the treasure, too bad he didn't know there would be somebody as stupid as you," responded Mizu. "OI! Oh well anyways I have to go back so that I can rescue my nakama from the marines!"

"Hold on a second," said Jikan, "You can't go yet, you may have the power of the Mizu Mizu fruit and the Jikan Jikan fruit but you are still not ready. You already saw the amazing powers we hold but it was only because we were used to our bodies even though we were just fruits. Now we are infused as one, we no longer hold onto the same bodies we did for many years, not only that but you have three different devil fruits in your body which are all necessary for you to complete your quest while maintaining your nakama alive. Mastering all three will take you forever." "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"You will train here until you have mastered the basics of the Mizu Mizu fruit and Jikan Jikan fruit," said Mizu, "Yet that won't be enough to keep your friends alive in the final battle, but you've encountered powerful enemies in your travels. They may seem like horrible people but no one is born evil, they are forged that way. You will receive new nakama in your travels, people who you deemed unworthy of your respect. Now you will see a new side of them and you'll treat them like you treat the others. Together, you will make an unstoppable force that will make the Admirals tremble. Now get ready Monkey D. Luffy for your training begins now."

* * *

**Hello everybody I am back and I bring you a new story, now before you ask the obvious question, yes, this is a story based off of Animaniac dude's The Will of D. Don't grab your pitchforks and torches yet because I didn't do this because I am trying to copy probably the best One Piece Fan Fiction ever but because it feels depressing of how it ended. Chapter 30 had a very sad LuNa moment and after that there are no more moments to tie things up between the two cause the guy probably abandoned it. He hasn't updated his story nor his profile so I think that he may have abandoned the story. But I felt that I couldn't leave the story at what it is now. So I decided to make this series which WILL be heavily based out of The Will of D. That includes the bad guys joining the crew and overthrowing the World Government though I will however leave out the entire ancient gods thing and also Gol D. Roger won't be alive here. Instead he is replaced by my own OC characters named after devil fruits, Mizu and Jikan. They will act as counselors to Luffy and help him make tough decisions as well as playing the good angel and the bad angel parts though I don't know which one should be which. Also I know the little rant that Animaniac did at the end of his 31st chapter who plagiarized his creation and Animaniac, if you read this I'm just doing this for complete love over your series and I hope that you update soon.**

**Now the second matter of business at hand is that I need a someone to help me Co-Write the stories. I wanna aim for one chapter a week but things are starting to get hectic with homework. What I need is someone who is good a writing fan scenes and that can also write the main plot if I, for whatever reason, can't do it myself that week. I want somebody who has experience writing fan fics like, for example, XFangHeartX. Also I would like to say I will not abandon this fic no matter what unless people want me to and if so is the case i'll set it for adoption. So now please review because then it makes me feel super motivated to keep writing and I may end up writing two chapters in a week if i get many reviews. Thank you for listening and I will see you next time (BTW despite the name of the fic, the romance will be more of a subplot than the main plot).**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! I would like to start out by saying sorry for the delay, the last few weeks were hectic because of IB registrations and what not. I'll like to clarify that even though I said it's going to be a weekly series, I may end up realizing some stories biweekly, tri at the most. Don't worry though, I will still deliver either way.**

**On the second matter at hand, I'd like to point out that some characters will probably end up being a bit OOC either accidental or intentionally. Luffy will be on the latter because of his new sense of maturity thanks to the death of his crewmates. Also some characters will become a bit OOC as the story progresses. The last thing I would like to say is that I finally chose who will play as the angel and devil on Luffy's consciousness. Mizu will be the devil because his abilities grant raw strength for self reward and Jikan will be the angel because his abilities grant a second chance to do things right.**

**And with that said, lets begin.**

**Chapter Two**

**Beginning Anew**

The water today was calm, there was near no movement except for a small calm breeze strong enough to move a small boat as it sailed through the deserted sea with nothing to be seen for many miles. In the boat, there was a childish teenager, around the age of seventeen who clearly remembers this day despite the many years that have passed.

Luffy was very excited, even more so than when he originally first began. Most of his appearance didn't change despite being years younger. He wore his open cardigan and yellow sash along with his blue shorts and of course, his famous straw hat though his body was still very muscular and his hair was also messy as always. The only thing missing was the giant scar that Akainu gave him.

While there was not a single living thing insight, Luffy was not alone. "Today you begin anew Luffy," said Jikan. "Yea, try not to screw it up this time okay?" teased Mizu. Luffy had spent two years training his new powers underwater a million years in the past. He had trouble moving around considering that he hadn't swam for a very long time and that the water slowed down his movements but he was a fast learner. Within a few weeks he was able to move underwater as fast as he could on land.

He was stronger than ever! Now nothing could stand in his way in achieving his dreams and saving his nakama. Though there was still a lot to do before then, right now he has to find them first and rebuild his crew. "So, what's first in matters of business captain?" "Well if everything goes as it originally went, then we should encounter Coby first." Luffy felt blood rushing to his brain as Mizu checked his memories to remind himself who this Coby character was. While they did promise Luffy to not look back into his memories again, there was much that they didn't get the first time they did this to him many times already though he has already gotten used to the weird feeling.

"So Coby is the kid with the pink hair and that was captured by the female pirate Alvida?" Luffy gave a slight nod, "If memory serves right then there should be a whirlpool around here that should take us straight to the cruise that they will raid." As if on cue, the water around them started getting rough and a whirlpool began sucking them in. "There's my signal," said Luffy as he stood up, "Now where's that barrel?"

"Pssssst… Luffy wake up!" Luffy slowly began to open his eyes as he found himself in a tight space, he remembered that he jumped into the barrel and fell asleep as the whirlpool sucked them in. He could hear some voices outside arguing about whether to open the barrel or not, one voice he recognized, "If Lady Alvida finds out then she'll kill us for sure!"

"Well if she doesn't know then she won't do anything to us."

"Or are you gonna go ahead and tell her, Coby?"

The young boy shook his head in a nervous manner. "Well good," said one of the pirates as he cracked his knuckles, "how about we open this the good ol' fashioned way?" He made a ball with his two huge fist as he lift them up into the air but before he could swing his fists to break the barrel, Luffy stood up and broke both the barrel and the pirate's jaw with his head.

The other two pirates as well as Coby dropped their own jaws, astonished by the boy who broke through the barrel and knocked out one of their crewmates. "That was a great nap!" Luffy yawned before stepping out of the barrel and searching his surroundings. He looked down to find Coby on the floor making a silly face, he was the first to speak, "Who… Who are you?" The raven-haired boy faced towards Coby, "My name is Monkey D. Luffy!"

"Yo… YOU!" Luffy turned around again, this time towards the two remaining pirates, "YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO OUR CREWMATE!" "Oh yeah, I forgot about you two. Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy's arms stretched out hitting both of them. They fell to the ground unconscious as now Coby began making a weird noise as he nearly soiled his pants when he saw the boy stretch his hands, "WHAT ARE YOU?!" Luffy grabbed his cheeks and pulled them, "I'm a rubber man!" Again, Coby began making a 'waaaahh' sound. "You ate a devil fruit!" Luffy made a slight nod, "Yea I ate the Gomu Gomu fruit," his stomach rumbled, "Hey is there anything to eat around here?"

Coby sat down on the floor, amazed at how fast Luffy was devouring everything in the pantry. "Thosh piwates bah thewe 'Gulp' they were part of Alvida's crew right? What is somebody like you hanging around with them?" Coby sighed, "Well, I didn't really want to join their crew, my dream was to become a marine," he took a big gulp as he remembered the incident that happened long ago, "What happened was that one day I went out fishing. I got into what I thought was a small fishing boat. But it turned out to be from Alvida and her crew. If I didn't become her subordinate she would have killed me." Luffy stared at Coby before he finished his story, "That was two years ago." "Why don't you run away?" Coby lifted his head up and shouted, "I can't do that! If Lady Alvida finds out I plan on escaping she will kill me!"

"For god's sake! Luffy are you sure this is the loser who becomes-"

"Mizu! Don't tell him!" Coby looks around startled after hearing another voice coming from god knows where, "WHOSE THERE? If it's one of Alvida's men then I am so screwed!" Luffy looked at Coby's scared expression before breaking into laughter. "Don't worry we're not Alvida's men, in fact we aren't even men," said Jikan though it only freaked out Coby more now that he realized that the voices were coming from Luffy. "Coby, calm down," said Luffy, "It's just my nakama, Mizu and Jikan, they're with me!" The pinked hair boy did what Luffy told him to do yet he was still unsettled by the mouth less voices. "Besides," Luffy continued, "If they were part of Alvida's crew I could beat them and her easily."

"Don't say that! What if she hears you!" shouted Coby, "Alvida is the most terrifying pirate I've ever met. Even with your devil fruit powers you can't beat her!" Luffy hit Coby on the head, "OW! Why did you do that?" "Cause I felt like it," Coby let out a sigh, "Yea I deserve it. Your nakama is right, I am a coward." Luffy looked at the desperate young boy, remembering the duels they had back in Water 7 and later on in the New World along with his partner, what was his name again? Gepetto! That's it! "Coby, you said your dream was to be a marine right?" he looked up at Luffy, "Then follow that dream and I'm sure you'll become one of the best marines out there!" Coby now had awe in his eyes, inspired by his new nakama to become brave and follow his dreams. Then he stood up and said, "You're right Luffy. I'll go to a marine base! I'll become the best there is! And when I'm finally strong enough, I'm going to arrest the cow that is Alv-"

Before he could finish, the roof above them broke and down fell a grotesquely obese human being who was wielding a giant mace. Coby screamed in horror as Alvida stood in front of him with a huge smile of anticipation as if daring him to finish that sentence, "Now Coby, who did you saw you were going to capture?" "Eeh, no-no one Alvid-" Once again his sentence was interrupted though this time it came from one of the voices in Luffy. "GOOD GOD CAPTAIN!" shouted Mizu in disgust, "THIS IS ALVIDA! I WAS EXPECTING THE BEAUTIFUL GODDESS FROM YOUR MEMORIES NOT AN OVERWEIGHT WALRUS!" Alvida looked towards Luffy in a mixture of happiness, for being called a goddess, and anger, for being called a walrus. "Well she hasn't eaten the Sube Sube fruit yet so right now she's a walrus." Now Alvida was angry, she swung her iron mace towards Luffy but he avoided it and run towards Coby grabbing him before jumping onto the deck from the hole Alvida made.

Now the two friends were surrounded completely by Alvida's men as she jumped out of the hole where they came from. "Now straw hat," she said, "I will spare your life if you answer me this correctly, who is the most beautiful woman in the sea?" "Definitely not you!" said both Luffy and Mizu. Now Alvida was furious she lifted the iron mace up again, "NOW DIE YOU INSOLENT FOOL!" The mace hit Luffy as his entire body was crashed onto the floor and pieces of him flew across the entire ship, there was nothing left of him. Alvida chuckled as she directed her attention back at Coby.

"Coby, tell me, who is the most beautiful woman in the seas?" The boy had his mouth wide open of both shock and terror but not just because he saw his new friend get smashed into tiny pieces. Alvida then noticed that her entire crew also held the exact same expression, all their eyes looking at something behind her, "What are you fools sta-" she stopped midsentence when she turned around and saw the straw hat boy totally fine. She swung at him again sideways and his entire upper torso disappeared. But instead of the deck being filled with blood it was filled with water. Then, it began moving towards to the disembodied legs as it began forming a new upper body. Luffy's newly formed face gave a smirk at the obese woman.

"You ate a devil fruit!" shouted Alvida. Then Coby began stuttering again, "Wa-Wait! You said you had eaten the Gomu Gomu fruit! Why can you turn into water?!" "I also ate the Mizu Mizu fruit," said Luffy, "But it's a long story and we have a schedule to catch up with." He grabbed Alvida by her collar and lifted her up as if she were as light as a feather, "Now Coby, anything you want to tell her before we go?" Coby took a big gulp to muster up all of his courage, "Yea! I've always wanted to tell you that you are the most ugliest and fattest person I have EVER SEEN WHO ONLY GETS ITS JOY ON MAKING OTHERS SUFFER!" Alvida looked at Coby with a death glare but before she could respond to the insufferable brat Luffy punched her in the face sending her into the deepest floors of the boat creating a small tremor which rocked the boat violently.

The enemy pirates couldn't believe the fact that their captain was just knocked out by a young teenager, they were ready to go aid their captain but before they could get back inside the ship, a puddle of water traveled quickly below their feet and reached the door before they could. Out of the puddle came out Luffy with his head tilted down slightly covering his eyes. The pirates looked at him scared, "Prepare a ship for Coby! He is going to join the marines!"

Next to the recently raided cruise was a small ship that was just lowered down by a pretty girl with orange hair that reached to the bottom of her neck. She was in the cruise stealing some valuable jewels from the rich men and women who usually partake in activities in boats of such size. Luck smiled her way as a pirate raided the boat to take away all valuables from the people inside of it though they didn't know that the previously mentioned girl had boarded the pirate ship and took their treasure too. She noticed a commotion in the cruise ship as she exited the pirate boat. She took this chance to lower down one of the emergency boats a long with her. Once the small boat touched water she grinned for a job well done. "Just a little more!" she told herself.

The grin soon disappeared from her face as another boat similar to hers crashed into the water. A small scream of surprise escaped her mouth, she looked at what just crashed into water near her as her eye caught sight of a boy sporting blue shorts, a red cardigan, and a straw hat. Luffy slowly turned his head around in surprise. He knew that sound, a sound that he hasn't heard for many years. His eyes were placed on the orange haired girl, she was wearing a small skirt with two white rings on its side. Her shirt was white except for one blue stripe going around it. Luffy's ship began to move as it was being carried by the wind.

"NAMI!" the girl looked at the raven-haired boy in surprise, 'How does he know my name?' she thought. Then an arm stretched towards her and grabbed her in the waist, she let out a yelp as she tightly took hold of the recently acquired treasure. The arm pulled her towards Luffy, Nami screamed as she flew towards them. The boy, in his excitement, pulled her in too fast. She crashed against him as Luffy fell on his back with Nami on top of him. He hugged her in a friendly embrace, "Nami! It's great to see you aga-" he fell silent as he noticed her sleeve on her left arm rolled up a bit, revealing the tattoo of the man who caused her years of suffering. He ran his hand on top of the tattoo as anger began building up inside him.

Nami slowly began regaining from her confusion, she noticed the young man's hand on top of her tattoo her eyes widened and she pulled away from him, "He-hey! What are you looking at?!" She noticed how quickly the boy's expression had changed from excitement to anger. She didn't know this guy but she felt, weirdly attracted to him as his muscles were clearly showing from his unbuttoned cardigan. Her attention quickly changed from his toned muscles to his face, Luffy opened his lips as if to speak but before a could even make a noise, someone else spoke for him, "JESUS CHRIST LUFFY! THIS! IS YOU NAVIGATOR?! One sec I think I missed something from your memory let me check again," Mizu said before he caused Luffy's blood to rush once more into his brain. After a few seconds of rechecking his memory, he spoke again, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME! HOW THE FUCK, AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS HAVE YOU NEVER TAPPED THAT… Hey where's that coming from?" Luffy's eyes redirected from his stomach and back to Nami as a dark aura surrounded her.

"NO NO NO WAIT! THAT WASN'T ME!" Luffy told her hoping that she would spare his life as Coby slowly headed to the other side of the ship sensing the imminent doom coming over them. "You have ten seconds to explain yourself before I kill you!" shouted Nami at the young boy. "Well I don't think ten seconds would be enough," grinned Luffy as he rubbed the back of his head. He stood up and placed his hands on his hips, "My name is Monkey D. Luffy! My nakama over there is Coby, I just rescued him from the pirates who just raided the cruise, and the two other voices you heard are Mizu and Jikan."

"Sorry for my partners behavior," said Jikan, "He can sometimes be selfish and a bit of a perv." Nami had a surprised look on her face while looking at the boy's stomach and, at the same time, inadvertably staring once more at his toned muscles. A blush appeared on her cheeks at the realization and she shook her head trying to make it go away. Then she looked at the boy's eyes, remembering how he was able to stretch his arms earlier, "You're a devil fruit user?" He nodded his head, "I ate the Gomu Gomu, Mizu Mizu, and Jikan Jikan fruits! I'm a rubber and water man and I can sort of manipulate time, I haven't mastered it yet." "YOU ATE A THIRD ONE!" shouted Coby, Nami looking equally as surprised, "HOW ARE YOU EVEN STILL ALIVE!" Mizu then spoke up, "We're conscious devil fruits so we can't really hurt him, also supposedly we should have slipped deep in his subconscious after he ate us but because the moron ate us both at once, we remain in his body while maintaining our own thoughts."

The orange haired girl couldn't believe it, 'Three devil fruits! Maybe he could stand a chance against…' her hand self-consciously began rubbing the side of her shoulder over her shirt while still keeping eye contact with Luffy. Luffy saw this however and went towards her, she took her hand away from her shoulder, holding it, "Don't worry about it." She stared at him in surprise, "Why don't you join my crew?" he said. Nami's thought diverted to the question trying to forget about the her previous thoughts, "Um, crew?" "Yea! I'm making a crew, I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

Her eyes widened and an angry look covered her face, she pulled her hand away from his and used her other hand to grab the bag of treasure defensively, "Get away from me you dirty pirate! I wish you would all just die and leave us alone!" Coby who stood silent for most of the conversation looked at her surprised, "You hate pirates?" "More than anything in the world! All they do is steal, kill, rape and take away everything that is precious to you!" Coby could some what relate to her in that regard, though things have changed, recently in fact, "I hate pirates too, I was stuck with Alvida's crew for two years. My dream was to become a marine but now I'm not sure they'll let me after being stuck with them for such a long time. But Luffy showed me that not all pirates are bad! Some of them are good and that they only want to follow their dreams! He gave me hope in joining the marines, that they will let me in despite hanging out with those ruthless men!" Luffy smiled at Coby, once again remembering the man he would become later, 'Now that's the marine from your memories,' said Jikan in Luffy's head.

Nami stared at the younger boy and let out a sigh, he turned towards Luffy and said, "Fine, I'll take his word for it and trust you for now. Though I won't join your crew AND once we get to Orange Town you guys better leave me alone!" Luffy gave her a smirk, "Actually, I was thinking if you could take us to Shell Town, there's an old friend of mine there that needs my help." Nami stared at him with half-lidded eyes, "A pirate that doesn't know how to navigate… great. Also I won't take you there, I have to get to Orange Town for my own reasons." "What if we pay you?" She let out a chuckle, "Yea right! Judging by your appearance and the fact that I already checked your pockets for money, –HEY- you can't pay me to bring you there." Now Luffy was the one to laugh, he stood up wiped some of the dust off his clothes, "Wait here, I'll be back in a sec. Jikan Jikan no Travel!"

Luffy looked around, he was back again a million years in the past underwater. Once again, he was marveled by the treasure surrounding him, he looked around for a something small to pay Nami with without making her pass out, "That'll do!" He crouched down and grabbed a small sapphire. Despite its small size it was still pretty valuable and enough to convince Nami. After looking at the sapphire for a bit he stood up again, "Jikan Jikan no Travel!"

Coby and Nami let out a scream when Luffy appeared in front of them all of sudden, he let out a small chuckle remembering that Coby was still a coward and that Nami isn't used to seeing devil fruit powers. Unlike the Grand Line where thousands of people seemed to have such powers, the East-Blue had very few people who were devil fruit users. "Here! Catch!" he threw the sapphire at Nami who was catching her breathe yet she caught the jewel just fine. She looked at the sapphire and her eyes widened, it didn't have a single dent, scratch, roughness, anything! It was a perfectly round blue sapphire, "Whe-where did you get this from?!" "Shishishi, its a secret!" the girl shook away the trance and saw that Coby had passed out from the scare.

Once more she looked at the sapphire and an idea popped on her head. "So what would it take for it _not_ to be a secret anymore?" Nami put on emphasis on the 'not' and looked at him seductively, she hasn't met a single pirate who couldn't resist her charms considering the immense amount of time they usually they spend with other pirates of the same gender, some even go insane for not seeing a women for years! Though this pirate just looked at her indifferently with the same smile of before, "There's nothing you can do, it's a secret for a reason." A sweat drop fell behind Nami's head, 'Is this guy thickheaded or something? Maybe he needs more, incentive…' she quickly grabbed Luffy by the wrist then took him with her into the tiny storage room on the small boat and closed the door behind them.

"Oi! Nami what are you doing?" The girl then put her arms around his neck, still carrying a seductive looked. She licked her lips to see if he would react but he just stood there confused, "Nami, are your lips dry or something?" 'IS HE REALLY THAT THICK-HEADED!' shouted both Nami and Mizu in their own minds, the latter obviously has caught on to what she is planning but wants to see how far she'll actually go. Nami decides to put in a bit more incentive, "Are you sure you're not willing to do an exception on that, secret of yours?" with one finger, she pulled down the neck of her shirt revealing a hefty amount of cleavage.

**SPLRRT**

Little sprinkles of blood came out of the left side of Luffy's nose with a stream of blood following right after. Nami smile grew even larger, she had him right where she wanted hi- "Sorry Luffy, Mizu got a pretty sizeable nosebleed here." "Huauauauaua…" the weird noise Mizu was creating trailed off a bit and the young navigator began getting pissed at the fact that the nosebleed wasn't from Luffy. Mizu regained his composure rather quickly and went off in another one of his rants, "OKAY, SERIOUSLY! I KNOW YOU HAVE MEMORIES SOMEWHERE OF YOU DOING THIS GIRL NOW WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU HIDI-" PAAAM! Nami landed a hit on Luffy sending him flying into towards the bulkhead. He crashed against it with his head towards the ground and promptly fell on it. Mizu was now scared shitless, "WH-WH-WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE! HOW DID SHE MANAGE TO, NOT ONLY LAND A BLOW ON US, BUT HURT US! YOU'RE A WATER AND RUBBER MAN FOR CRYING-" Once again he was interrupted as Nami grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up off the ground. Again, the dark aura from before surrounded her only this time, it covered the entire room, its essence could suffocate any living thing in there.

"What is the meaning of these so called memories before I throw you out to sea so you can drown! Also, while we are in the subject of 'memories of me,'" she said while making air quotes with her fingers, "How do you know my name?!" Luffy just looked at her with wide eyes, although her expression showed anger, it brought many memories of her beating him to the ground. He felt happy to see her angry in a weird way and that he would still be seeing that nostalgic expression in the future. "Well?!" Finally Luffy snapped back into reality he tilted his head down making his hat shadow his eyes, "I-I can't tell you." "Why? Another secret of yours?" He nodded, "Well if you're not telling, then I guess I won't be taking you to Shell town."

Luffy looked at her in the eye surprising her. His eye showed no anger, or disapproval, or disappointment, or any emotion that she thought he would have showed. Instead it showed sincerity as he said, "I don't know when I'll tell you or how I would tell you or if you would believe me at all." His hand reached the sleeve of her shirt, pulling it up and showing the Arlong tattoo, "But I promise you, I will tell you on that day." Her pupils grew small in understanding of his words. Her throat felt dry, she swallowed making it burn but she didn't care, for some odd reason she felt as is he could trust him. She let go of his neck and he of her sleeve. "Okay, I'll take you to Shell Town," then with a grand smile, "But I'll still keep the sapphire." Luffy grinned, I wouldn't have it any other way.

A day or so later, the small group nearly reached Shell Town as it could be spotted on the horizon. Coby was shivering since Nami forced both boys to sleep outside while she slept inside of the small room. Despite the new gained trust, Nami still had some weird hidden resentment towards Luffy because he was still a pirate. Yet whenever she saw his smile, that resentment disappeared as if it was never there to begin with. To take her mind off the subject in her head, she decided to strike up a conversation. "So Luffy," she began by saying, "Who is this friend yours mentioned earlier?" "You said he was in trouble, what happened to him?" Coby added. "You guys probably know him, his name is Roronoa Zoro." Silence… "WHAT?!" shouted the two other people on the ship.

"You're friends with THE Roronoa Zoro?"

"Yep!"

"The Pirate Hunter!"

"Yep!"

"HOW?!" again they shouted in unison. How could a pirate be a friend with a pirate hunter? "Well, to be honest, he still doesn't know he's my friend yet." Silence… again. "ARE YOU RETARDED?!" "No." Silence… yet again. "You mind explaining," said Nami. "Can't it's a secret. What I'll tell you though is that I'm going to ask him to join my crew." Nami put her palm on her forehead, "Right… another secret of yours." Coby still showed signs of worry, "You're going to ask him to join you?! That's suicide! He's a monster! I've heard that the marines have arrested him he probably did something terrible like kill somebody!" Luffy looked at Coby with a grin, "I know it's hard to believe but not all marines are good guys. Some are corrupt and they make people's life miserable sometimes they even kill in cold blood." Nami let out a chuckle, "Says the pirate!" "Says the thief!" "I only steal from pirates!" she shouted. All of a sudden, the something started moving in Luffy's head, you could practically hear the gears grinded.

His face went red in embarrassment, "Wait, so you did those things too…" "YOU JUST NOTICED?!" shouted Nami, Mizu, and Jikan at the same time while Coby looked at them confused. "What things?" now Nami's cheeks began reddening in embarrassment, "NOTHING! NOTHING!" "You were passed out at the moment," said Mizu. Silence **(A/N: Get used to it, it's going to be a running gag.)** filled the boat as Coby reached a moment of realization. The way Luffy was happy to see her, what Mizu said about those 'memories', how she was staring at Luffy's abs for sometime before blushing. Coby gaped at the two at them, "Y-You two weren't-" **BONK** "NO!" both Luffy and Nami had stood up to hit Coby on the head, Luffy adding a bit of haki on his fists.

A few minutes later they reached the shores of Shell Town and Coby regained consciousness though the two bumps on his head still remained. Both him and Luffy jumped off the boat. Luffy then turned around holding a grin, "Thanks for getting us here! Maybe we will see each other again and let you join my crew!" Nami scowled at him, "I'm not joining you even if you seem nice enough, though the fact still remains that you're a pirate!" Then she pulls out the sapphire from her pocket, "But if there some money involve maybe I'll help you get around the sea." "Sure no problem! See you later Nami!" he turned around once more as Nami set the sails of the boat and began heading towards Orange Town, supposedly there's a pirate there who has a map for the entrance of the Grand Line.

"So, Luffy where are we heading?" Luffy held his hands on the back of his head, "We're heading to the marine base. If what you said is true then Zoro is probably held there as a prisoner." The people of the town stopped their activities and stared at the two boys as if terrified. Coby looked around unsurprised by the reaction, "These people seemed scared of Zoro." "I don't think they are necessarily scared of Zoro, I think they are scared of the captain of this here base." Now the pink haired boy looked at him confused, "You mean Axe-hand Morgan?" The people of the town now seemed more terrified, some even ran back into their houses.

"What's wrong with them? I understand why they would be scared of Zoro but why would they be scared of the marine captain?" "Like I told you Coby, not all marines are good guys." They kept on walking while ignoring the glares of the citizens and after a few more minutes they finally reached their destination, the marine headquarters towering above them. "So this is it! We're finally here! Now I can become a marine. I guess this is good-bye Luffy! I'll never forget what you'v- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Coby turned his head and caught Luffy trying to jump the wall into the base.

"I'm here to rescue Zoro." Coby gaped at him, "Get down from there! If the marines found out you helped him escape they'll kill you!" Luffy ignored Coby's comment and pulled him over the wall, on the other side Coby saw the pirate hunter tied up to a pole looking at them, the air around him grew denser as his eyes seemed to be as sharp as his swords. Coby gulped and stuttered, "Okay let's go Luffy, that man gives me the creeps just by looking at hi- WAIT DON'T GO!" it was already too late. Luffy had climbed over the wall and began running towards Zoro.

"What do you want?" said Zoro menacingly, Coby nearly pissed himself at the question yet Luffy still carried the same smile as always. "You're Roronoa Zoro, the famous bounty hunter right?" he nodded, "I came to ask you to join my crew." Zoro raised his eyebrow, "Crew? Crew of what?" "My pirate crew! I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" Zoro laughed at the comment, "It's already ridiculous that you would ask a pirate hunter to join your pirate crew, but also saying you'll be King of the Pirates, that's rich kid!" Luffy also laughed at his response, "Says the person who wants to be the world's greatest swordsman!" Zoro let out a sigh while still keeping his grin, "You don't get it kid. I'm doing this to complete a promise to an old friend of mine."

Luffy's smile was then replaced with a frown and he sat down next to the swordsman. He remembered Zoro telling him and the crew about the promise he made to a friend of his that died a long time ago and the promise he made with her the right before the day she died. "Kuina…" Zoro's eyes widened and gave out a surprised look. His eyes redirected to the boy who was sitting before him. He didn't know what to say, he has never told anybody about Kuina. As far as he knows, the only people that knew about that promise were him and Kuina's father. "I know where Mihawk is." Zoro's face looked even more surprised. He had never been this close to finding Mihawk, if what the boy said was right, he could finally complete his promise and lift the burden of his shoulders. But…

"Sorry kid, I'm still going to have to say no. Just a few more days and they'll let me go. The captain's kid said so." Luffy's smile returned to his face, "You put the lives of innocent people in front of yours and you are willing to postpone your dreams in order to save them." He stood up and began walking back towards Coby but then stopped after a few steps, "Oh! I almost forgot." He stretched his hand over to another wall and when it back, it was holding a little girl with rice balls in her hands. "Is there anything you want to give him little girl?" She gave a small nod, her face expressionless in awe of what just happened, Luffy put her down and she headed towards the bounty hunter. "I made these for you!" Zoro lifted his head a bit revealing one menacing eye under his bandana, "I don't need your help!" The girl seemed sad but before she could argue with Zoro, Luffy grabbed one of the rice balls and shoved it up Zoro's mouth.

"GRAUAMMH!"

"Just it and stop complaining, I know you haven't eaten for days and, if you're going to join my crew, I need you at your full potential!" Zoro finally swallowed it, "Kid, I'm not joining your crew. I still have a promise to keep." "How about this, once you finish this promise, you can join my crew." Zoro let out a devilish smile, "I don't know if you're persistent or stubborn kid, but I'll consider it. But only so that you can take me to Mihawk." Then he turned to the little girl, "Oi! Rika, could you give me the other ball?" Rika looked up at him with shining eyes, "You liked it?" He gave a nodded and she proceeded, with the help of Luffy, to put the other rice ball in his mouth.

"Hahaha! Zoro, I'd say you made a friend!" Everyone turned their heads and saw a blonde guy with a bowl haircut and wearing fancy clothes of the color purple. "What do you want Helmeppo? Just a few more days of this and you have to set me free." Helmeppo looked at Zoro with a smug smile, "I'm actually surprised you lasted this long without food and water, but I'm not here for that. You! Rika and the boy with the straw hat! What are you doing here?" Luffy smiled as he came up with an excuse, "We're here just to see the infamous bounty hunter and make fun of him." He then proceeded to poke Zoro with a stick lying on the ground, "Oi! Stop that!" Luffy stuck his tongue out, "What are you going to do about it?" "You'll see when I get out!"

Helmeppo began laughing at Luffy's action, "I like your attitude, but you're still trespassing property and you will have to pay! You!" he pointed towards one of the marines, "SIR!" "Throw her over the wall!" The marine began stuttering, "But sir, she is just a little girl." "Are you going against my orders? Will I have to get my father over here?" The marine trembled on his feet, he swallowed a big lump and regained his composure. Then he grabbed Rika, "I'm sorry." He threw Rika over the wall, Coby looked at her with bulging eyes as she passed over him. Arms stretched towards Rika grabbing her and Luffy himself towards her catching her midair.

"I can't believe they would do that!" Coby expressed his anger, the small group was now in the bar that Rika's mom, Ririka, owned. Ririka served the young boys as a reward for saving her daughter, Luffy of course ate like a maniac all the food in front of him as well as stealing some from other patron's in the establishment. "See? I told you Coby, not all marines are good guys. Some, like Captain Morgan –scuttle-, are corrupt and they control people's lives." Coby looked down in disappointed, he felt his dreams crumble before him, he always thought that marines were honorable men and women who fought for the good of others. "Don't worry Coby, there are still good marines out there!" Coby looked up at Luffy, his sad face turned into a smile but before he could say anything, the door slammed open and in came Helmeppo with another of his dogs along with two bodyguards. Zoro apparently killed one of Helmeppo's dogs because it attacked Rika and he made a bargain with Helmeppo in order to protect even further the innocent family.

"This place is a trash!" he shouted, "Oi! Ririka make me some food I'm starving!" The mother trembled a bit, "Umm, sorry but we just gave the little bit of food we had left to the two gentlemen over there!" The blonde boy knocked down some plates, "Just give me something to drink woman!" He took a chug from the bottle of sake Ririka just gave him, "I can't wait until tomorrow, that idiot swordsman! He should know better than to trust me! I'll execute him in front of the whole town just to teach them not to mess with-" SLAM! Luffy hit Helmeppo on the back of the head smashing him into the bar and breaking it in two, "OWW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM?! I'M TELLING MY DAD THEN YOU'LL SEE!" Helmeppo ran away along with his bodyguards back towards the base, "Come on Coby, we're going to tell Zoro and get him out of there!" He began running towards the door but stopped halfway there, "Oh! These are for the damages. Thanks for the food!" He tossed Ririka some gold coins he got when he supposedly went to the bathroom. He began running with Coby following behind.

"ZORO!" The bounty hunter lifted his head and saw a familiar straw hat along with the boy he saw on the other side of the wall he seemed to be ready to piss himself. "What do you want now?" Luffy kept on running towards him, "We're here to get you out of here." "You idiot I told you I have stay here, just a few more days and I'll be free." Coby got behind Zoro and began an attempt to untie him, "You don't understand! Helmeppo lied to you! He was going to kill you whether you made it or not!" Zoro's eyes widened with rage, "Luffy hit him, he was angry that he wouldn't keep his promise to you." Zoro then set his eyes on the raven-haired boy, "I assume that you're Luffy." He nodded, "Fine! I'll join you, but you see I'm not much good to you without my swords. Helmeppo took them from me so he should know where they are."

"Alright! I'll go get your swords for you! Coby, stay here and him out of his binds," he then noticed a statue of Captain Morgan being lifted on top of the base. PAM! "DAD YOU IT ME! YOU ACTUALLY HIT ME!" Luffy grinned, "I think I know where Helmeppo is, I'll be right back. He stretched to the top by holding on to the statue. He pulled himself up causing the statue to begin to fall down. Luffy flinged himself well over the marine base and saw the priceless faces of the marines, Helmeppo, and Captain Morgan. Then to add insult to injury, he pulled back his arms, "Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!" His came towards the statue and hit it right on its chest breaking it into millions of tiny pieces.

Luffy landed on the top of the base right in front of Morgan whose face held sheer frustration. "You! That statue took years to make! It represented all the merits I've worked for! NOW DIE!" He swung his axe onto Luffy but he quickly rolled over towards Helmeppo and grabbed him, "What are you idiots waiting for? Shoot him!" The marines aimed their guns at Luffy and in response he put Helmeppo in front of him as a meat shield, "WAIT! DON'T SHOOT! I'M A HOSTAGE SAVE ME!" Luffy kept on running into the base. Though he has been here before his memory of the base is a little hazy, "Where are Zoro's swords?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"You are no position to negotiate here! Tell me or I'll throw you out the window!"

"Fine! Their in my room!"

"Where is it?"

"YOU JUST PASSED IT YOU MORON!"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Luffy turned around and held Helmeppo again as a meat shield. He ran through the marines as the terrified blonde haired kept shouting at them not to shoot. He kicked the door open to Helmeppo's room, the placed was coated with the color pink that you would have mistaken it as the room of a little girl. He sent the now traumatized Helmeppo on the floor and headed towards the corner where he found three swords, "Got'em now I have to take them back to Zoro." He looked outside and saw Zoro still in his binds, Coby desperately kept trying to untie them but then marines along with Morgan came out of the base, "Hey! He is trying to help the enemy escape!" "I'm surrounded by traitors!" said, the captain, "KILL THEM! KILL THEM NOW!" "That's our cue!" said Jikan. Luffy ran through the window and fell towards the execution yard.

"FIRE!"

"NO! Not now!" Zoro could only think of the promise he made to Kuina he made many years ago, he couldn't die now. He was so close to Mihawk, he couldn't fail now! Coby just looked with a gaping mouth as bullets fired from the rifles heading towards them. Then at the last second, a red haze appeared in front of them and took every single one of the bullets, "LUFFY NO!" Coby shouted when he realized that Luffy took all the bullets for them, but then lumps of skin jumped out making a few holes in his cardigan before they retracted shooting the bullets back at the marines who fired them. One went past the left ear of the marine captain, "What are you?!" Luffy stretched his cheeks, "I'm a rubber man!"

"So you ate a devil fruit. You're full of surprises kid." Luffy turned towards Zoro and grinned, "Believe me, you'll see a lot of surprises when you'll be hanging around with me!" "What ever you say, Captain." Luffy through the swords towards Coby in a slight haste, he felt an aura behind him. A giant axe swung at Luffy cutting him in half, a smile of went across Captain Morgan's face, "Stupid kid, you never turn your back on your enemies on a battle!" Zoro's eyes went wide again, the boy's upper-half fell on the ground, what surprised him even more is that Coby didn't even seem to react at seeing his friend getting killed, in fact it seemed as he was trying to hold back a smile of his own.

The marine captain laughed, he rested his axe-hand on his shoulder, "This is what happens in this world when you don't follow in line boy. All that matters is rank and those who are inferior are expendable." "I think you should shut up and follow your own advice." The Captain stopped laughing and turned his head around just to find Luffy grabbing hold of his axe with his hat covering his eyes. Morgan tried to move his hand but despite his strength it wouldn't budge. Luffy lifted his head up and smirked, "Mizu Mizu no Rust!" The axe was then covered with water and then it began soaking it in like a metal sponge but as it did the axe rusted completely.

Morgan tried to pull away again but in doing so it caused the axe to break into dust. Everyone looked at him in awe, not even Zoro could believe watch just happened, "Another devil fruit? That's impossible! You should be dead!" Luffy grabbed Morgan by his neck, now his expression showed that of anger, "I'm tired of your attitude Morgan! People's lives aren't something to mess with! And if what you said is true, that everyone below you is expendable, then you are nothing to me because I will be KING OF THE PIRATES!" With that Luffy drove the marine captain's head onto the ground making a small sized crater and knocking him out.

Coby finally undid the knots holding Zoro using one of his swords. Zoro then took hold of all three, he was prepared to fight to the entirety of the marines in the base who would surely retaliate at the defeat of their commanding offi- "MORGANS DEFEATED!"

"We're free!"

"Thank you Strawhat!"

"They're, happy?" asked the now confused swordsman. "Captain Morgan was a horrible man, he oppressed the marines as well as the citizens of the town. His ego was huge because he believed that he captured the pirate Kuro, Man of a Thousand Plans, in reality he turned himself in." Coby looked at him in amazement, "How do you know that? The it's a fact accepted by the marines themselves that he captured Kuro." Luffy lifted his hat with the tip of his index finger, "That story, is for another day."

The heroes of the town were now back in Ririka's bar along with the other citizens celebrating the defeat of the horrible marine captain. Said was now placed in the prison in the very base which he commanded. "I don't understand, how can someone eat more than someone who spent almost a mouth without food?" Zoro had already finished his lunch which in itself was a feet to eat by oneself but Luffy was still eating a feast at least ten times to what Zoro just ate. "I don't understand either, considering he already ate a feast before we went to rescue you," "Hey! Hiiiish eatingh forh thwee people hwere!" said Mizu. "Is this one of your said surprises captain?" "Mwake thath too shurprishes!" said Jikan.

Luffy had swallowed the last bit of food in his mouth, "SUGE! That was great Rika!" The young girl smiled, she apparently helped her mother gather supplies from other stores who were generous enough to donate food for the heroes and she also helped cook it. It was sweet like her sugar covered rice balls. Luffy then stands up and pats his swollen belly, "Well Zoro it's almost time for us to go!" "Nani? Why are we going so soon? There's still much more that they will offer us."

Like on cue, marines come through the door and head towards the table occupied by Luffy, Zoro, and Coby. "The marines from the base located in Shell Town would like to thank you for getting rid of our previous commanding officer and we will not report you to HQ. However, because of your status as pirates, we will have to ask you to leave the town immediately." The entire bar roared in protest against the marine's comment of kicking out their heroes. Yet Luffy just grinned below his hat, "Alright, Zoro lets go, Coby best of luck to ya." 'Ready to put on a show?' said Jikan inside Luffy's mind, he responded with a mental nod. "Hey you kid! Is this your friend?" one of the marines pointed at Coby who was now startled, "That kid? No I'm not friends with him, he's a coward! I had to get him out of a pirate ship, he used to go with Alvida's crew, he has been with those pirates for ye-" Coby was fuming with anger, he connected a fist on Luffy. What surprised him is how the fist didn't go through the logia fruit user, then Luffy retaliate and smashed Coby on the ground, he punched him over and over again, throwing insult after insult until the marines finally intervened, "ALRIGHT BREAK IT UP YOU TWO! It's obvious that you guys aren't friends."

He covered his eyes with the straw hat and began walking away from the bar, behind him, he could hear Coby asking the new commanding officer something though he already knew what it was. Once they reached the dock, they took the first boat they saw. It was similar in design as the one they used to get there and began sailing away. "Where are we heading captain?" "If I'm right," Luffy began by saying, "then the wind should be taking us to an island and within it, there is a place called Orange Town. There we will meet with a friend of mine!" **SPLRRT **"Umm… Luffy, you have some blood coming out of your nose…" "Huauauauaua…" Luffy wiped the blood coming out of his left nostril while Jikan tried to bring Mizu back to consciousness. "Something tells me that your friend is a girl." Luffy then shouted in surprise, "Yea! How did you know?" The swordsman had a sweat drop down behind his head, "You are thick headed aren't you?"

"Luffy!" Both pirates turned their heads towards the dock and saw Coby saluting them from afar, "I'll never forget what you've done for me! I'll never forget you!" Luffy covered his eyes and grinned, sparing with him again in the future should be great, "I've never seen a marine give a salute to a pirate," commented Zoro. Then behind Coby from seemingly out of no where, what seemed like the entirety of the marine base also gave them the salute. And with that they head forward to their adventure in Orange Town to find a mikan loving navigator.

* * *

**DONE! Wow, we are already two chapters through and it is already longer than The Naïve Heart of The Pirate King! **

**One thing I would like to point out is that whenever Mizu gets a nosebleed it always comes out of Luffy's LEFT nostril, remember that! Also I need help with something, I want to change Nami's tattoo like they did on The Will of D but not because I'm trying to copy Animaniac Dude's idea but because it will play a central theme on a plot (the one in which they lose their memories). So I would like to ask you guys for ideas, it could be your own design or just the same to the one in The Will of D. Tell me on the review section or send me a PM, thanks!**

**Also if there are any spelling mistakes tell me! I've kinda reread halfway through because I need to go to bed and I wanted to upload it this weekend. Cya guys next time!**

**UPDATE: Aww crap! I forgot two things. The marine salute at the end and that for the tattoo change, it NEEDS to include a straw hat no matter what! K Thx Bye  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, again sorry for the delay. Also another thing is that sorry for any spelling errors I have because I needed to rush this again because I wanted to get this out today so I didn't get to correct it properly. Please leave any mistakes on the comments or PM me.**

**Chapter Three**

**The Map in the Straw Hat**

After the conflict in Shell Town, Luffy has reunited with his first mate, Roronoa Zoro, and are now headed towards Orange Town. Though not everything was clear in the swordsman's mind, he looked at his new captain as questions floated inside his head. Luffy was just looking out to sea with his trademark grin, anxious to meet his navigator again and to meet an old foe of his, he didn't notice Zoro's questioning looks. Both of their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a stomach grumbling, "I'm hungry," said Luffy. "You're always hungry, if you wouldn't eat too much then we still have some food left! We brought supplies that should've lasted a week and you ate them in one day!"

Luffy looked to the side of the ship as they sailed through the water. Then something caught his eye, he grinned once more and looked at Zoro, "I'll be right back!" Without another word, Luffy jumped into the water. Zoro had no idea how to react, his captain who was not only the user of one but THREE DEVIL FRUITS just jumped into the sea headfirst. After he finally snapped out of his trance, Zoro stood up and put his swords to the side. "Baka!" he shouted as he jumped into the water. Meanwhile, on the other side of the boat, Luffy jumped back in and used his Mizu Mizu powers to dry himself up, "OI! ZORO! I CAUGHT SOME FISH! Zoro?"

He looked around and began scratching his head, the swordsman was nowhere insight except for his swords that were gently placed against the mast of the small boat. He then began sensing movement in the water using his powers, he looked back to the side of the ship which he jumped off and there came out of the water Zoro, he was coughing violently after being in the water for so long searching for his captain. He looked up to see that the devil fruit user was fine and back on the boat. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING!" Luffy looked at him confused, "What's wrong Zoro?"

"I saw you jump off the side of the boat! Were you trying to commit suicide or something?!" Luffy finally understood the reason of the swordsman's outburst, "Shishishishi! Sorry, I didn't tell you but the Mizu Mizu fruit allows me to not only control water but it allows me to swim in it too so I don't sink." The swordsman gave out a sigh, "Well, that's nice to know." Luffy used his powers to lift the water where Zoro was to help him get back on the boat. That's when Zoro noticed a particularly big fish splashing around on the boat near where his katanas were. He then went ahead and picked up the swords ignoring the flapping fish. "Cool catch huh?" the swordsman crossed his arms, "Yea, it's kind of an amazing feat that you were able to catch it with only your hands but how are we going to cook it?"

The smile swept off of Luffy's face, he realized that he overlooked that important detail. They didn't have anything to start a fire with and even if they did, it would burn the entire ship to the ground or in this case the water. It wouldn't be a problem for him because he can easily regenerate anywhere that is connected to the sea, the problem arrives with the fact that he can't leave Zoro stranded in the middle of the ocean. Letting out a sigh, the raven-haired boy grabbed the fish and threw it back into the sea letting it live for another day.

The two pirates sat down in their previous positions watching the sea they weren't sure how much longer it would take them to reach Orange, "How much longer 'till we get there?" asked Zoro. Luffy wasn't sure but the answer came to him before he had a chance to speak. The sound of a seagull was heard from up above, it seemed like a normal sized bird but it was because it was far away. The young captain grinned and answered Zoro's question, "I'm not sure. Let me check!" He stretched his arm towards the bird and grabbed hold of its beak and shot himself towards it.

Zoro noticed that something was wrong, the arm seemed to stretch farther than it should've and his captain was soon out of sight. He squinted his eyes trying to get a better view of the bird, "ZORO! HELP! I'M STUCK!" Luffy was wailing his arms and legs as if trying to get out of the birds hold, he knew he could but he also knew that Nami is probably going to be chased by some pirates and unless he got there quick, they would catch her and possibly kill her, or worse. "YOU DUMBASS!" shouted Zoro, he quickly took hold of some oars and began rowing to where the bird was headed.

But as he did, he heard someone calling for help, "Hey you help us!" Zoro looked towards the front of the ship and noticed three men treading on the water 'Damn it! I don't have time for this!' "Grab hold of something! I'm not stopping!" The three men looked surprised but did as they were told, they took hold of the side of the ships and lifted themselves up. They sat down in front of the swordsman as they gasped for air, "Thanks! But this boat is now property of the Buggy pirates, so you better jump off this boat before we make you!" Zoro stopped rowing and looked at the three pirates with a devilish gaze. A dark aura surrounded them, it was pretty clear that they just made a huge mistake.

The streets of Orange Town were completely bare. All the citizens of the town had evacuated when they heard the news a few days prior that Buggy the Clown and his crew were in the area ransacking any islands they found. The only noise heard was of hurried footsteps. Nami was running as fast as she could with a map containing the entrance of the Grand Line.

She had taken the map from the previously mentioned pirate crew, she gained their trust rather quickly, and any simple-minded man can be easily fooled, especially to a pretty girl's charm. Unfortunately, something went wrong. She was able to get inside their ship to get their map, which was located in their treasure room. Greed got the better of her and after she took hold of the map, she began filling a few bags with treasure. Needless to say she got caught before filling a single bag. Nearly the entire crew began chasing her, she lost most of them along the way but she ran across a small scouting party who were now chasing her once more.

Nami's smile didn't leave her face not for one moment. She could run faster than the people behind her and she still had the map with her. There are millions of people that would spend all of their lives savings for a map like this, it would help her greatly in her goal. The young girl was too distracted in her thoughts and she failed to notice a small piece of debris from a nearby wall that collapsed in the middle of the road. She tripped on said rock and fell on the ground. Nami let out a grunt of both pain and disappointment.

The group of pirates were closing in, usually she would be able to quickly get up and run but her stomach jabbed against another blunt piece of debris knocking the air out of her. Slowly, she got up on her feet but couldn't push herself to run. The pirates were just a few meters away, they would take the map and her back to Buggy and probably die, in his own words, a _flashy death_. **BOOM **The orange haired girl looked up at the sky as a massive cloud made out of exploding gunpowder appeared above them. The pirates stopped running, also startled by the explosion up above.

Then out of the cloud came out a huge seagull relatively untouched by the cannonball. But then something else fell from the sky, it looked like a small silhouette from a far, then as it drew close it, the silhouette revealed itself to be a boy with a straw hat very familiar to Nami's eyes. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Luffy shouted as he fell. Then he crashed against the ground between the pirates and Nami creating a dust cloud around them. The cloud soon vanished revealing a crater and in that crater was Luffy smiling towards her. The small group of pirates gaped with bulging eyes at the boy, asking between themselves how did he survive that fall. Nami had a look of disbelief soon replaced by a smile, she came up with a plan. She ran towards Luffy and pulled his arm up to make him stand up, "Boss! You're here to save me! Please take those guys out for me!" Luffy smirked at her, Nami found this kind of weird, she was expecting a look of confusion more than anything.

"Boss? You mean captain, right?" Nami flinched, she remembered his status as a pirate and was about to blow him off until she remembered her current situation. For the first time on a long time, Nami felt herself cornered by a pirate. She scowled at Luffy but before she could respond, a sword went through his chest. It startled Nami making her let go of his arm and fall on her back. "So this is your captain. Buggy will reward us for bringing both of your bodies back to him." The pirates chuckled, one of them drew his own sword and began walking towards Nami, she reached under her skirt for her bo staff **(A/N: Is that the name of the stick she used to carry around? I don't remember… Please tell me if I'm wrong!)**. "Mizu Mizu no Rust!" the group of men faced the impaled boy surprised that he was still speaking, then they were even more surprised when they saw the sword impaled on his chest begin to rust and fall into pieces.

"He has a logia fruit power!" one of them shouted. "That's not all I have! Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" He launched both of his fists, one towards the pirate heading for Nami and another one towards the pirate who impaled him before. "WHAT?! TWO DEVIL FRUITS?!" Luffy then turned around facing the group, "Gomu Gomu no Whip!" Now his leg stretched in an arc and he kicked the entire group knocking them out in one fell swoop. Nami watched as Luffy took down the group with ease, the fact that he had eaten three devil fruits had finally settled into her mind. Even if he already told her about it, she still couldn't believe it though she had already saw him use the Jikan Jikan fruit. Now she saw the other powers bestowed upon him from the Gomu Gomu and Mizu Mizu fruits.

Nami was finally snapped back into reality, Luffy turned towards her with a smile, "Hey Nami! Seems like you got yourself into a bit of trouble." She let out a sigh, "Yea well… it's a good thing you showed up when you did, I guess…" The young thief rubbed the back of her head, still a bit mad by how Luffy just cornered her. She told him she hated pirates yet he nearly made her say she was part of a pirate crew. Her thoughts stopped when a grumbling noise came from his stomach, "I'm hungry!" he said in a bit of a whiny noise. Nami couldn't help but chuckle, "Come, I can make some food for you." She took his hand and began dragging him to a nearby house. For some reason, Luffy felt a knot in his stomach when she took hold of him, it was a weird feeling, one that he has never felt before, 'That's weird, I know it isn't hunger but then what is it?' He soon disregarded the feeling when they entered the house.

Nami let go of his hand, the knot in his stomach went away as soon as she did yet he kept on ignoring it. She grabbed a few things, enough for one person, "Hey girl, can you make the meal for three people?" Nami turned around looking for the person who just spoke, Mizu noticed her behavior, "I feel kind of bad. Its only been a day and you've already forgotten about us?" She looked down at Luffy's stomach, "Oh, sorry. It's been kind of hectic lately in this town. I've had to keep my guard up the entire day, for a second there I thought you were another pirate." Nami grabbed a few more things to make food for three, it would take a while longer since the stove was a bit small so she decided to pass the time through conversation.

"So Luffy," she began, "What happened after I dropped you guys off? " Luffy lifted sat down and lifted his legs up setting them on the table, "Well, me and Coby found out the Zoro was being kept as a prisoner because of a deal he made with the marine captain's son that he and that if he didn't accept, he would take execute both a little girl and her mom. Supposedly he was going to let Zoro go but then we over heard him saying he was going to kill him anyways. That's when I stood up to him, raided the marine base, defeated the corrupt captain, and freed both Zoro and the town from his grasp!" Nami once again turned around and stared at him with disbelief, he has heard of rumors about a corrupt captain oppressing the people of Shell Town but for a teenager to defeat him and single handedly was just farfetched. Yet again the fact that he is the user of three devil fruits is also a farfetched idea.

Once more, she thought that maybe he did stand a chance against him. 'No… I'm already so close to getting the money, I don't need to involve anyone else.' She started cooking again to get the idea out of her head, "After all that, what else happened? Where's Zoro?" Luffy scratched his head in embarrassment, "Well… when we were on our way here but I tried to get a better view of the area by getting on top of the seagull. But then the damn tries to eat me and I start wailing in his beak! Shishishi!" After he finished with his story, a drop of sweat fell from Nami's head, 'Is this really the guy who defeated a marine captain?'

Soon after, the meal was done. She set down three plates on the table but Luffy had swallowed everything in less than five minutes. Inside his stomach, Nami could hear the sounds of the two entities eating and fighting over the food, "Thanks Nami!" said all three in unison. "So those pirates that were chasing you, those were from Buggy's crew." Nami nodded, "Those pirates have been going around raiding this town, thankfully most of its citizens were able to escape before they arrived. But now they're chasing me because I have this!" She pulled out the map to the entrance of the Grand Line, "That's great!" shouted Luffy, "That way you can guide us easily to the Grand Line!" Nami put the map down and her face showed anger, "Who said I was going with you? The fact of the matter is that you're a pirate and even though you are the nicest one I have met, I still hate them!"

"Then why did you call me captain?" Nami then proceeds to punch the boy in the face causing him to fall off the chair, "First of all, I didn't say that you did! Second, nobody is allowed to corner me like that! And third, I will NEVER join your crew!" Luffy stood back up with his trademark grin as if nothing had happened, "Then how about a partnership, for business purposes." The orange haired navigator's frown turned into an intriguing grin all of a sudden, she let out a small sigh, "Okay, I'm listening."

"That Buggy pirate has a lot of treasure with him, I can help you get that treasure and let you keep it and in exchange you can you will navigate for us!" Nami took a second to think about this, it was an interesting proposition since she kept all the money they got, and she could make give her a lot more from where the sapphire came from, "I'll accept but only, if you let me leave when ever I want." She stretched her hand out Luffy shook, sealing their agreement. But as they did, they felt both of their stomachs flip in a strange emotion though they hid what they felt. Nami let go of his hand and said the following to take her mind off the weird sensation, "Right, so what's the plan?"

Nami and Luffy were both walking towards where Buggy and his crew were located. From a distance, Nami could see the pirate clown slash at a few of his subordinates, presumably because they spoke of something round and red. The usually calm girl felt a bit nervous, she held a grip on Luffy's arm, a rope tied his hands together. The way he talked about the last few steps of his plan scared her, "_No matter what, do whatever Buggy tells you to do when you give me to him. Don't hesitate, don't flinch, just do it… trust me."_

"Let me go!" Luffy began squirming, pretending as if he were trying to untie himself. The Buggy pirates turned towards where the noise was coming from, "Stop squirming you idiot! Oi, Buggy! Look what I brought you." She threw Luffy onto the ground, he groaned as Buggy brought him to his knees using the back of his cardigan, "Look who it is, the traitor Nami and her boyfriend." The former blushed, "He-HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND! He is my boss -Captain- SHUT UP! He is the one who made me take the map away, it was his idea. But the idiot is weak, I prefer a tougher captain who KNOWS what he is doing, like you." Buggy grinned at the complement as Nami gave the map to the pirate.

"Well thank you Nami. I guess I was wrong about you. Everyone! Ready a feast for Nami our new nakama!" "HOORAH!" The gang of pirates threw Luffy into a metal cage and brought sake along with a huge variety of meat. Luffy could only stare at the succulent pork being cooked. Within the hour, half of the food was gone and most crew members were passed out either through drinking too much or through drunken fights. Nami was found in a drinking contest, so far she had won quite a lot of money. Not that it mattered as the plan would let her steal all of their money anyways if it came to fruition. The pirate on the other side of Nami's table fell back on his chair, Buggy and the rest of the crew were laughing at the hysterical spectacle.

Once the laughter quiet down and the crew kept talking and drinking, Nami sneaked away. She grabbed some meat of the table and head towards the sleeping boy, "Oi, Luffy!" he woke up and was greeted to the sight of his beautiful navigator. Yet he couldn't speak, he couldn't stop staring at her eyes. Nami then blushed noticing how intently he was looking at her, "U-um Luffy, are you alright?" He shook his head, "Yea, I'm sorry. What?" She smiled and set the plate inside the cage. Promptly, he smashed his face onto the plate and ate the food, sounds of eating came out of his stomach once more.

"Giving him his last meal I see!" Nami turned, Buggy and his crew were staring at her laughing, "Oh! Yea! I assume this fool won't be living for long!" She chuckled imitating the gang. "I see then why don't you do the honor of getting rid of him? PREPARE A BUGGY BALL!" A cannon was brought out and was put in front of the cage where Luffy was held in. Then a ball with the jolly dodger of the crew was put in the cannon, Luffy didn't flinch or react at all as he saw this. A few of the pirates guided Nami towards the cannon, "Here you go! Now light up that cannon and prove your loyalty to me!" Buggy gave her a match, a weird feeling of desperation surrounded her. Yet Luffy seemed calm, why? She had seen the amount of damage one of these balls could cause, the sheer heat of this thing would either blow him into a thousand pieces or evaporate his body.

Then he looked up at her and grinned, "_Don't hesitate, don't flinch, just do it… trust me." _His words echoed through her mind, he gave her one last nod before looking down. Swallowing all of her courage, she kneeled down towards the cannon, 'He is just a pirate, an evil pirate, who kills and ruin other peoples lives!' She kept thinking to herself in an attempt to push herself to do this but something in her mind kept telling her that his is different. She placed the match on the rope, it immediately turned on the fuse and that little bit of fire slowly crept onto the cannon, "YEA! NAMI, NAMI, NAMI!" The pirates chanted, her eyes kept on shifting between the fuse and Luffy. A temptation overwhelmed her to put out the fuse yet she fought against it.

The fire nearly reached the end, she closed her eyes and waited for the loud bang. Now she was chanting to herself, 'Trust him, trust him, trust him, TRUST HIM!' Then she heard a small whisper, "Jikan Jikan no-" **BANG **The explosion ripped through the cage and the houses behind it creating a massive cloud filled with debris As soon as it settled, the cage was nowhere in sight, and neither was Luffy. "YEA!" The pirates cheered, yet Nami stayed silent. Inside her it felt horrible, she had just killed an innocent man, even though he was a pirate. She didn't even notice the pirates around her lifting her up and cheering for her.

"Good job Nami!" Said Buggy, "You have proven to be one of us! Now, lets demolish this town and head to the Grand Line! LOAD UP ANOTHER BUGGY BALL!" Then another ball was in the cannon ball, which was then pointed at another section in town. Nami just looked as the scene folded in front of her the pirates set her down next to Buggy who was enjoying the show from a bit of a distance away, she couldn't take her mind off what she just did. The fuse was lit, it crept towards the cannon and before it got inside the cannon, Buggy shouted, "FIRE!"

"I don't think so! Mizu Mizu no Pressure Drop!" I small drop of water was shot inside the cannon and near instantly, the cannon exploded in a mixture of gunpowder and water. The pirates around the cannon were knocked out cold while the rest looked around trying to figure where the voice and where the drop came from. Nami also looked around anxiously knowing from who the voice came from, an arm then flew towards her grabbing her by the waist. "AAAAAAAHH!" The arm pulled her towards Buggy's ship, the crew of said ship looked towards where Nami was pulled just to find the thought to be dead boy on top of their ship while holding Nami close to him.

Nami opened her eyes and noticed how close she was to Luffy. She also noticed his arm was still around her and that she was also hugging him. For a moment, she stayed like this to enjoy the sensation but when she snapped back to reality, she pulled away from him and pushed Luffy off the rail. "BAKA! You made me worry that I killed an innocent man!" He regained his composure, "Didn't you say that all pirates kill, steal and more?" She jumped down the railing as she calmed herself down, then she helped him get back up, "Fine, I admit you're different. But anyways lets stick to the plan, you distract the still sober ones and I'll take their treasure!" Luffy nodded, both of them ran towards to do their respective tasks. He jumped off the railing towards Buggy, "How are you still alive?!" Luffy didn't answer, instead he drew water from the sea and made two cannon sized balls in his hands, then he shrunk them down to small little drops.

"Mizu Mizu no Pressure Drop!" He fired both drops towards the pirates and as soon as they made contact, they exploded releasing the pressure that made them shrink down. "You- You ate two devil fruits!" said Buggy, "How's that even possible!" Luffy landed in front of him, "It's quite a lengthy story so I'm going to skip that part and go straight to the ass kicking!" He jumped into his fighting stance though one thing he failed to notice a swordsman on a unicycle heading towards him. Before said swordsman could land a blow, a green haired man blocked him. "Oi, Zoro! Took you long enough!" Zoro kept his blades clashed against the other swordsman, "We can talk later once we're done with these circus freaks!" he spoke through his swords. "Roronoa Zoro," said the other swordsman, "If I beat you then I will be famous around the East Blue!"

"You deal with Zoro, Cabaji, and you straw hat are mine!" As both swordsman took their fight elsewhere, Buggy's body parts began separating on their own, his hands grabbed the a set of knifes nestled against his waist. "As you can see straw hat, I have eaten the Bara Bara devil fruit which allows my to split my body apart into various pieces. It doesn't matter if you cut me up down left right or diagonally, you can't hurt me! NOW DIE A FLASHY DEATH!"

The pirate clown sent one of his disembodied hands lunging for Luffy who jumps out of its way. "Who says I'm going to cut you? Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" His fist flies towards the Buggy's torso as it levitates out of harms way. Another hand heads towards Luffy who once more avoids into the way of the other hand, which rips through his chest creating a puddle of water below. Said puddle regenerates back to where the hole was made. "So you are a logia type user. No matter! Even if I am a clown I always plan ahead and since we are going to the Grand Line, there is a high probability that we would run into other devil fruit users. Now it would be a great time to test these sea-stones we ransacked from that marine ship!" Buggy's hand goes towards the waist where he sets down the knives and checks in his pocket, then in his other pocket, shirt, sleeves pants hat coat…. Silence… "DAMN IT MOHJI STILL HAS THEM!"

"Mohji?" asks Luffy, "AAHH! I FORGOT ABOUT CHOUCHOU!" The clown looks at Luffy as if he were the clown, "Who?" The boy was gone without a single trace. From a distance the noises of a fight and a lion screaming were heard. Then came crawling in a puddle of water with a small, brown pouch on top of it. The puddle takes the form of the boy and the pouch is now place on his hands. "You mean these sea-stones?" he said as he played with the pouch, "Yea those… HEY WAIT A MINUTE! GIVE THOSE BACK!" Buggy sent all of his body parts flying to the boy with the straw hat who expertly avoided them. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" his fist successfully connected with the clown's torso causing the onslaught of body parts to stop. Luffy seized this chance, "Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun!" Multiple fists hit all of Buggy's limbs various times as well his head, waist, chest, and more…

Once the barrage of rubber fists stopped, Buggy's parts reconnected into a whole as he gasped for air. Surprising, he still maintained his fighting spirit despite being completely outmatched, "Who do you think you are?" How dare you believe that you can do that to me and get away with it?!" Luffy gave a smirk, "I will be King of the Pirates!" he shouted with all his might or glory. Buggy stared at him for a good while before bursting out in laughter, "YOU? PIRATE KING? Don't make me laugh kid! You've impressed me but even with your powers the throne is reserved for me!"

"You don't get it do you?" Luffy said while holding on to his hat, "I'm doing not because of wealth or fame though they are nice things to have," Buggy stared at the boy, 'That hat… I've seen it before!' Luffy then kept on his speech, "I'm doing this to fulfill a promise and to redeem myself, to protect those who I have failed to protect before." The pirate clown didn't listen, he was mesmerized by that hat, he finally remembered from whom it was, "That hat! It's Shanks's!" Luffy's serious frown turned into a grin, "You should know, you were his friend back then when you were with Roger's crew.

Buggy's eyes widened, despite his immense fame, or at least the fame he thought he had, almost no one knew about his past in that grew. His surprised face then turned into a devilish smile, "That's right! I once sailed with the Pirate King! I was one of his most trusted men and also one of his most deadly! There is no one fitter than me to take the throne of my old captain!" Luffy crossed his arms in confusion, "I heard you were just an underling." The clown fell on his back in humiliation, then in response his hand crept behind and tried to cut him yet again though it came out with the same results "Besides, how could you become Pirate King if you can't even defeat someone half your age?"

From a nearby alleyway, Nami headed towards the pirates, she had two huge bags filled to the brim with treasure stolen from Buggy's ship. Now all that is left is the map in Buggy's possession, maybe if she was lucky enough, she could take it away without neither pirate noticing. That idea went out the window once she finally reached them. They were fighting viciously, to distracted to even notice her. She hid at the entrance of the alleyway and set down the bags of treasure as she put her head out of the side of the wall to look at the fight.

Luffy charged at him dealing a blow on Buggy's head, he withstood the blow as he slid on his feet. Both of his hands redirected their attention back to the pouch yet Luffy showed no opening what so ever. Only a few times did Buggy's attacks connect yet Luffy took no damage but the same can't be said for Luffy's attacks since most connected whether it be from his rubber or water powers. Now Buggy was mad, he knew that what the kid said was true that if he couldn't defeat him then there is no way he could become king yet there is nothing he could no to harm him. His eyes were then set on his straw hat, 'If I can't hurt him, then I'll instead hurt the hat of who's to blame!' One of the hands with the three blades between its fingers made an upper cutting motion towards the hat. It hit right on the edge leaving a small cut.

"Hey watch it! You said it yourself its Shank's hat!" Buggy grinned as the his hands tried again and again to cut the hat in shreds, "That's exactly why I'm doing this! This is all Shank's fault! His fault that I was just an underling, that I ate a devil fruit so I can no longer get any of the treasures stored under the sea, and most importantly, it's his fault that you are here!" The clown missed again the straw hat but the knives went through Luffy's neck, "LUFFY!" Buggy looked towards Nami who now had her entire body sticking out the wall. She covered her mouth realizing what she just did, she had completely forgotten about Luffy's devil fruit abilities when that knife went through him.

A plan popped up in Buggy's head, "DIE A FLASHY DEATH!" One his hands went straight towards Nami. Luffy reacted immediately, "NAMI!" He tackled her out of the way causing the hat to fall off his head, 'The string!' He looked over and noticed that the string on his hat was cut. His mind went back to when Buggy did the upper cut, he cut more than just the edge. A second later, Buggy's other hand went did another upper cutting motion but this time, its knives plunged through the hat cutting it open, "NOOOOO! THOSE WERE MY TREASURE!" Buggy looked at Luffy straight in the eye, "That isn't a treasure! A treasures are shiny, and valuable, and… wait did you say those?" He pulled his hands and knives away letting the hat fall to the ground, but then something else fell down from the straw hat, a piece of paper.

Luffy stretched his arms and caught his hat but before he could grab the paper, one of the clown's hands swiped it off from the air and brought it to himself. "What's this? A map? You insolent boy, this isn't a treasure either, a map is just something that takes you too-" he cut himself off when he opened the map, his eyes jumped from left to right, "Th-thi-this…" he swallowed as his neck went dry at the realization, "THIS IS A MAP OF THE ENTIRE GRAND LINE!" Nami pushed Luffy off her, the whole entire time she was blushing, "WHAT?!"

"It has every single island! It goes all the way from the Red Line to… To… TO… RAFTEL!" Silence filled the area, a calm gentle breeze broke it yet no one dared to move. Buggy kept his eyes steady on the map while Nami's eyes widened in disbelief, her gaze shift to Luffy, 'How did he get a map of the entire Grand Line? Only one person has gotten to the end!' Luffy was the only one without a surprised look on his face, he was pissed at the fact that his hat once more befell harm because of the clown pirate and that he had his hands on his other, just as valuable treasure, "GIVE IT BACK!" Buggy snapped out of his trance by shaking his head, he rolled up the map and looked at Luffy with a grin, "I don't think so! I have no idea how you got your hands on this map and frankly I don't care. However, it will be of great use to me!" Luffy stood up and charged towards him, "I said, GIVE IT BACK!"

Luffy tripped, one of Buggy's hands grabbed his leg, it was wrapped around a piece of brown leather. Then the other hand came and stabbed him in the back, all three blades drew blood. "AAAAAAAWWWWW!" Luffy felt an intense and familiar feeling, one that he hasn't felt in a while. Pain. Not the type of pain received from Nami's punches, one of sheer excruciating pain. "LUFFY!" Nami shouted, this time knowing it was serious. Buggy let out a chuckle, "Thanks for giving me back the sea-stones straw hat, I promise to make as painful as possible!"

He twisted the blades to the side making Luffy cough off blood. 'Come on! Get your self together!' said Jikan, 'What else am I supposed to do! I can't use my powers!' Not only that, but the pain he felt as if he was drained out of all his physical strength. In Nami's mind, she knew she had to do something. Buggy was laughing a sadistical laugh, she took her chance and drew her bo staff. "NOW DI-" The clown felt a sharp pain in between his legs, this is caused him to lose grip of both his knives and the sea-stones, "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" A hit on his head sends Buggy flying down the street making him drop both maps off his pocket.

With the last of his force, Luffy sprinted towards Buggy as he extended his arms backward, "Gomu Gomu no…" The latter was just lifting himself off the floor while rubbing his head. Buggy lifted his head to find Luffy just a few meters away from him, "**BAZOOKA!**" Both hands land on his chest sending him flying away to the horizon until he is just a smell speck flying through the sky, Luffy fell onto a single knee, the adrenaline slowly fading from his body. "CAPTAIN!" shouted the currently conscious pirates. They quickly began lifting their still unconscious crew mates onto the ship, a scouting party also came back carrying a huge lion and a man with a white mane while being chased by both a dog and an old man carrying a spear, "GET OUT OF MY TOWN YOU PIRATES!" he shouted. "WOOF!" said the dog in agreement. Most of the pirates were already on the ship in less than a minute. "You forgot this one!" everyone looked towards a rooftop where Zoro was. He threw a passed out Cabaji onto the deck of the ship. "Zoro! I see that you're fine," said Luffy, Zoro had no wounds what so ever with the exception of a few burn matters. Since Buggy didn't get the chance to wound him this time, his fight with Cabaji must have been a walk on the park.

The pirates sailed away as Nami, Zoro, Chouchou and Boodle ran towards Luffy, Nami was carrying both maps on her hand. "Luffy!" she said. "Oi Luffy! Are you alright?" said Zoro. Luffy was having trouble breathing, he would use his water form to take out the knives but that would still leave him with three holes on his back leaking with blood. "Thank you kid, you saved my town," said Boodle, "Woof!" said Chouchou also thanking him for saving the pet food shop. Luffy grinned, "No problem ossan. Though we left quite a mess." Their eyes scanned the town, many buildings were destroyed leaving some families homeless, "Don't worry about, we will find a way to rebuild." Luffy then stood up and gently pushed them away, "Stand back… Jikan Jikan no…" with the last of his strength, "Travel!" he disappears in front of them.

A few seconds later, he appears with a big bag behind him and finally collapses, his straw hat tips over from his head. "LUFFY!" said Zoro and Nami, "Kid!" "WOOF!" Nami kneels down next to him shaking him gently, "Luffy! Wake up!" A voice from inside of him then speaks, "Don't worry he is just passed out." The voice came from Jikan, both the mayor and the dog had a surprised look on their faces, "He worked himself to the brim. If he wanted to he could've easily defeated Buggy but he in doing so he may have destroyed the whole town and killed the four of you," said Mizu. "Wow! This young boy is really that strong?" asked Boodle. "Oi! Guys! This bag is filled with gold!" All looks are fixed on Zoro as he scoops out a few gold coins from the bag, "He brought those to help you build the town," said Jikan, "I tried to urge him not to, to just leave some of Buggy's treasure instead but he refused."

Nami stared at the closed eyes on Luffy's face, for a pirate to put himself near death just to help others was unheard of for her. Yet he went the extra mile and gave away some his treasure when instead he could've left Buggy's treasure. True it was her treasure now according to the agreement they had at the house but who says he couldn't just forced her to give some anyways. Then she remembered, how he rubbed her shoulder, how he held it, and that she pulled her sleeve up. He definitely knew her situation, and she secretly thanked him for it.

Luffy woke up at the feeling of someone licking his face. "Huh? Chouchou?" he looked around at his surrounding and noticed that they were in a boat sailing across the sea. Next to his boat, was another one with the sail marked with the Buggy pirates' jolly dodger. "Where are we? And most importantly what are you doing here? You weren't supposed to come with us." The door opened and out came Zoro from his midday nap, "The dog jumped onto the boat with us and the mayor said it would be fine to take him with us. Little guy stayed by your side the entire time you were out," he said, "And so did she."

Luffy turned his head around to find Nami sleeping on his shoulder. He yelped at the realization and jumped to the side causing Nami to slid off his shoulder and hit her head on the railing waking her up. "OWW! BAKA!" she punched him on the head, making a bump on his head, "HEY ITS YOUR FAULT! YOU WERE SLEEPING ON MY SHOULDER!" Nami flinched and her cheeks turned slightly red, only Zoro this, "Oh… Um… sorry. I must've fallen asleep without realizing…" she said as the swordsman jumped over to the other boat to see if he could find some sake.

"Don't worry about it! But, what happened? I don't remember getting back the ship." He said with a grin, "You passed out because of the wounds Buggy gave you, so we got you back on the boat and I was able to bandage you up. It should hold up and stop the bleeding but we should still get you to a doctor once we get to the next island." Luffy listened to her every word and was about to thanks her for it when he reached over his head to rub the bump she gave him, "Huh? AWW! MY HAT! WHERE IS IT?! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" Nami couldn't help but laugh at his reaction, "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?! WE NEED TO GET IT THE MA- AWW! WE ALSO LEFT THE MAP!" Now Nami was on the floor laughing as Luffy began getting more and more pissed at her. She finally calmed down and spoke, "Don't worry, I'll be right back." She stood up and head inside, she returned a moment later and in her hand were the map and the hat all torn up.

She gave them to him, first he checked the map by opening with the back of it facing towards her. He checked to see if it was cut or ripped in any way, "Did you… um… look at it?" Nami tilted her head to the side with a bit of confusion, "No. Why? Was I supposed not to see it?" Luffy closed the map and put to his side, "Well, kinda." An obviously annoyed look covered Nami's face. Luffy then picked up his hat and surveyed the damage, three similar holes were made going straight across where the knives previously stabbed the hat making sort of a triple 'X' shape. "Sorry about your hat," Nami said, "I heard you say it was your treasure. Why?" Luffy looked intently at the hat, "A friend gave it to me, I made a promise to him that I would become King of the Pirates and when I did, I would give it back to him. But I also shared a lot of memories with this hat, I've won and lost many nakama along with it…"

Nami could clearly see the pained look on his face as he remembered what happened back at Raftel, "I-I could fix your hat for you if you'd like." She said, her both index fingers pressing against each other. Luffy looked at her and with a big smile, "Really? Thanks Nami!" he gave her a hug not only for appreciation, but also for comfort as he needed to remind himself that all that was in the past and that now, everything would be better. Nami felt her heart begin to race, she gently pushed him away, "N-No problem… but I… I still expect to get paid for getting you across the ocean! Okay?" she said as her voice changed from embarrassed to determined. She stood up and head inside closing the door behind. Then she slid down on the ground, her heart was panging against her chest. Never has she felt this feeling before, but why is she feeling it now when he's around her?

**And DONE. I'll begin working on the new chapter as soon as I can, motivation levels are high but I'm a lot more motivated in playing Skyward Sword. You can change that by leaving a comment for it leaves me with a nice gooey feeling inside. I rushed through both Cabaji and Mohji battles because, well it would be nearly the same as the anime/manga except it would be more of a walk in the park and not interesting at all. I also changed the Buggy fight seen too make him a lot more menacing and to present an actual challenge. Again PLEASE leave a comment to inspire me to get the next chapter out as quick as I can and by the way, it has a BIG surprise for you all.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yes! I finally wrote a chapter within a week… but now I'm behind schoolwork… shit! The things I do for you guys XD! Also I kind of lied in the announcement at the end of the last chapter because as of now it is a small surprise but later on I will shed a little more light on the matter. **

* * *

** Chapter Four**

**The Red Shell**

Luffy waited for a few minutes for Nami as he played with Chou Chou. Though he liked the idea of having a pet onboard, he still had an uneasy feeling for the dog's decision to come along. "I don't get it," he said, "He was supposed to stay and guard the pet food shop like he always did. Why did he all of a sudden decide to come with us?" The small dog barked a few times and wagged his tail, enjoying the feeling of being pet after a very long time. "If you remember right, the pet food shop was supposed to be destroyed," said Jikan, "Instead you defeated Mohji and Richie before they could destroy it. The dog probably felt guilty before because he couldn't defend the shop. Now that said shop is fully intact, he feels that he completed the promise he had made to defend the shop. With nothing else to do, he decided to come along with you." Chou Chou barked in agreement and gave Luffy an affectionate lick, he kept on petting him on his back as the dog lay down next to him and slowly began to drift to sleep, "Well either way, I'm glad that you came with us."

The door opened, Nami walked out with a small sewing kit with her. Although she doesn't like sewing very much, she still carries it around to mend clothes or, if the situation demands it, make some make shift stitches for deep wounds. She walked over to Luffy as he greeted her with a smile. She smiled back and sat down beside him, he handed over his hat to her and put it on her lap. She pulled out a needle and a small piece of thread. Every once in a while, she would eye the map next to the sleeping dog. Nami already knew the importance of the hat but not of the map, she put the thread through the end of the needle and tied it together. As she began sewing the hat she said, "You told me that a friend gave you the hat, did he also give you that map?" Luffy's small grin turned indifferent, he lay against the railing, his hands on the back of his head, his eyes facing the sky. "No. It was from another friend," he said without specifying anymore. "Why did he give it you? If it's a map of the entire Grand Line, it must be worth a fortune!" Luffy's eyes shifted towards the map, "It's actually supposed to be more than that, it should've been a map of the entire world…"

Nami stopped sewing the hat for a second, 'A map of the entire world…' Luffy noticed that she stopped and he turned towards her. The needle was hovering over the hat as her face showed that she was deep in thought. "She was only able to finish drawing that one sea," he said. Nami turned her attention to him, forgetting for a moment the hat the lay on her lap, "What happened to her? To get so far into the Grand Line and then to just stop seems weird to me." At her question, he frowned and he tilted his head so his dark hair would cover his eyes, "She… died…" Nami gasped for a second and immediately felt terrible for asking such a question. She looked down at the straw hat, two of the tears made by the knives were still wide open while the other was only half way fixed, "I'm… I'm sorry. She must've meant a lot to you if she gave you the map."

Luffy felt an urge to tell her everything, to tell her what happened, that the map was hers, that the same wouldn't happen again but he restrained himself from it. "I also lost someone important to me," she continued as she went back to fixing the hat, "I lost my mother along time ago, she was killed in front of me." Her eyes began to sting as they filled up with tears. Luffy felt the presence of water mixed with salt and it certainly wasn't from the sea, he looked over at her and noticed a single tear fall down her cheek and onto the hat. Nami kept looking down at it while fighting the tears, then she felt his arm turn her towards him as Luffy embraced her.

"Everything will be fine, I promise." Nami felt… comfortable in his arms. Once more she felt her heart pang against her chest. Another drop began falling down her cheek but then it stopped and began floating in midair. Then it made its way to the side of the boat where it fell onto the sea. "Don't cry anymore, okay?" Nami reach her arm under his shoulder to rub her eyes, "Hai…" she said. Luffy felt her arms reach around him and Nami returned the embrace. As they did, the upper part of their bodies closed in on each other. Luffy felt her breasts rub against the skin right next to where the bandages were. He didn't think anything of it. Unfortunately, somebody else did.

**SPLRRT**

A stream of blood crept out of his left nostril as a sound came from his stomach, "Guahuahuahua…" Luffy then felt Nami's arms let go of him as they made way to his shoulders. She pushed him so that they were facing each other. Nami had a frown on her face and her eyes locked on the stream of blood leaking from his nose. 'Oh oh,' thought both Luffy and Jikan. A dark mist surrounded them, silence filled the ship. Even the swordsman who was on the other boat listening to their conversion felt the mood change into imminent doom. "Luuuffyy…" she said in an irritated voice. "WAIT WAIT IT WASN'T ME IT WAS MIZU I SWEAR!" Too late. Nami lifted her fist up and it flew towards Luffy's stomach.

The punch connected against him and a shockwave was felt around the sea, "AAAAAHHHHHHHhhhhh… huh?" Luffy just stood there, Nami's fist still maintained contact oh his stomach, Jikan was as confused as he was, "I don't feel anything you?" Luffy shook his head. After a few seconds, the awaited deafening scream was heard, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW! THAT FUCKING HURT!" The voice came from Mizu who was still screaming in pain. Finally Nami retracted her fist and began working on the hat once more.

Nobody spoke while the sound of Mizu screaming still lingered for at least a good ten minutes. The screaming finally stopped and on cue, everybody pulled out their makeshift ear muffs, Luffy had some water lodged inside his ears, Nami had some earplugs she was carrying around, Chou Chou had his head dipped on the sea most of the time, and Zoro used the hilts of his unnamed swords. Mizu still cursed for a bit before quieting down for good, never has he felt such huge amount of pain in his life, mostly because he has rarely felt any pain. Nami let out a sigh as she trailed her fingers around the scars left on the hat. 'One, two, three, four, fi… wait what?' she counted six scars on the top of the hat. Strangely enough they seemed near identical despite some being there before the others. She'd just assume it was from another battle, Luffy can be vicious after all. But the fact that they looked so damn similar nearly convinced her that the same trio of knives made them.

"Hey! You patched it all up!" Luffy said. Nami flinched for a second and turned to Luffy who was grinning at her like a small child. "Umm… yea…" she said not really knowing what else to say. She handed the hat back, he immediately put it on along with the map and gave her his thanks. Then he jumped over to the other boat to get a 'snack'. He walked in and then out the same door came out Zoro with a bottle of sake in his hand. He made his way over to the other boat just as Nami put her sewing kit away and made her way back to the boat she stole.

After a few hours, which included Nami berating Luffy for consuming most of their supplies, the crew was able to wind out a bit. Zoro was taking his nap, Nami was checking over her compass and map that they had to stay on course and Luffy made a bit of small talk with Mizu and Jikan while simultaneously petting the loyal dog.

Luffy scanned around the sea until he spotted an island, "Hey! I see an island!" he shouted as he stood up to get a better view. Nami took out her binoculars after taking a look at her map to see if she could recognized the island, "That island is no good! It's unpopulated, so it's useless! Let's just keep going." She put her binoculars down and looked to the side of the boat only to notice that the other boat where Luffy, Zoro and Chou Chou were in changed course to the island. It took Nami a millisecond to process what was happening, "WAIT!" Nami shouted, she went ahead and redirected her boat to follow theirs.

Within minutes, both boats reached the island, Luffy jumped off with Nami following close by, "WE'VE REACHED THE ISLAND!" shouted Luffy in his usual excitement, then he looked around the deserted place. His smile soon became a pout, "There's nothing but trees here…" Nami took a sigh before speaking, "I told you this is an unpopulated island, it be weird if you found anyone here at all!" Luffy turned around facing the boats again, "Oi! Zoro come here-" A loud snoring sound came from the boat interrupting Luffy. The swordsman was in a deep slumber with Chou Chou also snoring on his lap. 'Even when he's not injured the guy has the nerve to sleep through an adventure…' thought Luffy.

He once more faced the forests ignoring the two sleepy heads on the boat, "Yosh **(A/N: first time I've used that expression please don't kill me if I used it wrong)**! Let's go!" Nami looked at him surprised, "Go where?" she asked. "To the forest! You never know if you might find people around here!" Again Nami sighed with a bit more irritation on her voice, "I told you there is no one here with the exception of poisonous snakes and wild animals!"

"Pock Pock Pock… POCK! POCK!" The sound of a chanting rooster came from close by, they both turned around to see a weird fox and rooster hybrid walking by. "What is that thing?" asked Nami. "Hey look! I found a weird rabbit!" said Luffy as another hybrid of a snake and rabbit struggled in his hands while it made a terrible, shrieking sound, "I think that's a mutant snake!" commented the young navigator with her hands on her ears. "What about that lion?" asked Luffy once more while pointing at yet another hybrid of a lion and a pig, the rabbit snake slithered its way back to the woods meanwhile. "That's a pig, isn't it? This island is so weird!"

**"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER! GET OUT!" **A loud booming voice surrounded the forest, the two pirates looked around trying to find the source of the voice. "What was that sound? Who are you?" said Nami. **"ME? I AM THE FOREST GUARDIAN! PROTECTOR OF THE TREASURE LOCATED IN THIS ISLAND!" **Nami's skeptical face suddenly turned into a smile, her eyes were now the form of Beli signs, "Treasure?!"

**"LISTEN WELL!" **the voice continued, **"DON'T TAKE A STEP FURTHER INTO THE FOREST OR YOU WILL FACE… THE FOREST JUDGEMENT!" **Luffy's mind finally remembered where the voice originated from, he took a step towards where it was coming from, "Looks like the voice is coming from there!" He looked towards a mysterious bush that was moving ever so slightly as if breathing. **"HEY! I TOLD YOU NOT TO COME CLOSER! RECEIVE THE FOREST JUDGEMENT!" **A gunshot was heard followed by a bullet that hit Luffy directly on his chest.

"KYAAAAAAH!" screamed Nami, startled by the gun noise. The bullet that hit Luffy stretched his skin and went through his cardigan before being sent back into the general area from where it came from. "The bullet came from over there!" Luffy pointed at the bush with a treasure chest under it. "Look! There's a pistol!" said Nami who just regained her composure. All of a sudden, feet sprang out from under the box and it began to run away, "AAH! IT'S MOVING!" The box then proceeds to trip and fall, it stays like that for a bit before it flips around revealing a bearded man whose green afro closely resembles a bush.

"LIFT ME UP!" the man proceeds to shout but before the two of them can respond or do anything, a snicker starts coming out of Luffy's belly which then turns into a huge laugh. "HUAHUAHUAHUAHUA! OH GOD! He looks like a jack in a box! HUAHUAHUA!" shouts Mizu. "Yeah… my name is jack and oddly enough I do live in a **ARE YOU AN IDIOT!" **shouted the man. Luffy proceeds to help him up again as Nami spoke to him, "Sorry about the commotion, my name is Nami and he is Luffy." The man balances himself on his two feet before speaking, "My name is Gaimon, what are you kid? Some sort of rubber man?"

"Yep! I ate three devil fruits, the Gomu Gomu, Mizu Mizu, and Jikan Jikan fruits so I'm a rubber and water man and I can manipulate time to a certain extent!" he answers. Gaimon gapes at what Luffy said, surprised at this revelation, "Three devil fruit? I've heard rumors about men eating those things and gaining extraordinary powers but I've never heard of someone who has eaten three much less two and has survived!" Nami lets out a small chuckle, "Yea… I had a hard time believing it too. But what are you doing here in a desolate island by yourself?"

"I've been stuck here for 20 years, I was a pirate much like you guys. I was a lackey in someone's crew who came to this island in search for the treasure which supposedly lay here somewhere. We searched the entire island and all we found were empty chests. We were about to leave but I noticed a small hill in the middle of the forest. Curiosity got the better of me and I climbed up the hill to find a whole bunch of chests unopened. I called out to my crew but I slipped and fell into one of the empty chests down below and lost consciousness. When I finally came too, my crew had already sailed away leaving me here. I tried to climb up back on the hill but my hands are too short to do so. I've stayed here ever since then naming myself the forest guardian to scare other pirates away from reaching my treasure with the help of these animals. SO STAY AWAY FROM MY TREASURE!"

Luffy and Nami listened to that story intently. "20 years…" murmured Nami. Luffy sat down with his legs and arms crossed, his face turned serious, "You've worked hard on protecting those treasures, they're all yours." Nami looked at Luffy for a bit, surprised for not showing even a bit of interest in the treasure in the island. She then turned her attention back to Gaimon, "Yea! We'll help you bring down that treasure for you! Gaimon-san!" Luffy looked at Nami with a smirk on his face, "Aren't you a thief that steals from pirates?"

"LOOK WHO'S SPEAKING, PIRATE! I HAVE PRINCIPLES TOO!"

"What about those Beli eyes you had at the mention of treasure?"

"I was thinking about taking it at first! But I'm not going to take it from a man who worked so hard on defending it!" The argument between the two kept on for a while before heading towards where the treasure was located. "This is it…" said Gaimon, "It's been a long time since the last time I came here… I've waited for this moment for so long, today is the happiest day of my life!" Luffy looked at him with a sad face knowing what's to come, either way, he reached over to the edge of the rock and pulled himself up. After a few seconds, he called down to them, "There really are some treasure chests up here! Five of them to be exact!" Gaimon's face light up like a Christmas tree and Nami smiled at the mention of treasure once more. "That's great!" Gaimon shouted, "Quick! Drop them here!" Silence fell before them, Luffy went back to his previous sitting stance with a serious look covering his face once more, "Nope…"

Again, an eerie silence fell before them, "What?" Nami looked at him in disbelief, she felt somewhat betrayed. She truly believed that this man was trust worthy despite being a pirate, soon her expression turned in to one of anger, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! STOP JOKING AROUND AND THROW THE CHESTS DOWN HERE!" Luffy silently shook his head but before Nami could snap at him once more, Gaimon spoke as tears fell from his eyes, "Straw-hat… you… you are a good person…" Nami looked at Gaimon, "I've thought about it… but I always tried hard to believe that it wasn't so… the chests… they're empty aren't they?" Nami clutched her chest and looked up at Luffy, he gave a silent nod, "When it comes to treasure, it's always a race. You don't know if someone beat you to it or not, but you just keep hoping that it is there," Luffy said before he scratched his nose and, "HAHAHAHAHAHA! You shouldn't be sad Gaimon! If it weren't for us then you would've probably been here for another 10 years and by then you could've been dead!"

"Straw-hat kid…" said Gaimon, his said face now a full blown smile and his tears replaced by ones of happiness. "Luffy…" whispered Nami. "Why don't you join us? Together we can find the greatest treasure of them all! The One Piece!" said Luffy. "Really? Thank you… straw-hat…" said Gaimon as more tears came from his eyes.

"Are you sure, you're really going to stay?" asks Luffy. "Yes! I thank you for inviting me but I wish to stay here as the forest guardian. Many people came to get these rare animals and I've grown to love them being with them for 20 years so I can't leave them behind!" Nami gave Gaimon a warm smile at the end of his speech though Luffy had another idea, "One sec, I'll be right back. Jikan Jikan no Travel!" Luffy disappears leaving Gaimon a bit surprised, "Where did he go?" "Just give him a bit," said Nami. Luffy returns startling Gaimon as he nearly falls over, in his hands was a chest similar to the ones found around the island, "I know you aren't planning on leaving this island so this won't do much good for you now but it gives you something else to protect!"

He sets the chest in front of Gaimon who using his short, stubby hands opens the chest revealing jewels and pieces of gold. "Baka!" says Nami giving Luffy a small smack on the head, "You're still injured from your battle against Buggy!" "I tried to warn him," says Jikan. Luffy just chuckles in return, Gaimon isn't paying attention at all but Nami's mind is plenty occupied. She feels kind of bad for not trusting Luffy in that short instance. She had forgotten how he is and she sees again the attributes that make her like him so much… 'Wait, did I say like?' thought Nami in her head. Before those thoughts could develop, Gaimon spoke, "Thank you so much straw-hat!" Gaimon then proceeds to stick his hand into the chest he is in as he reaches in for something, he pulls a red shell and hands it to Luffy, "I found this right on the edge of the hill where those chests were in, I was able to grab it right before I fell!"

"A dial…" Both Nami and Gaimon look at him, "A what?" The dial was completely red near similar to a heat dial, it had a circular bottom with it's top all jagged. Luffy then proceeds to press the middle of the circular side, then a stream of hot, red liquid shoots out towards a lone tree burning and melting it at the same time. "LAVA!" they say at the same time. "How did that sea shell spit out lava?!" asks Nami. Luffy was as confused as she was, he knew it was a dial but a dial that could hold lava was nonsense. After the shock wore off, the two pirates got onto their boats as they sailed away waving at Gaimon and his animals from a distance.

"What a weird guy don't you think?" says Luffy. Nami gives him a nod and looks at his back noticing the various holes and knife marks on his cardigan caused by the events ever since Shell Town. "Looks like your hat isn't the only thing that needs mending," she said. Luffy looks at his back and also notices the holes, he takes out his cardigan showing the bandages that cover his upper body. He gives it to Nami though she responds by sticking her hand out, "Ahem!" Luffy stares at her before finally getting what she wants. He pulls out a gold coin and tosses it to her, "And the hat." He sighs and pulls another gold coin as they sail towards their next destination.

Another day roles by as the three man, two entities, and one dog crew sailed across the sea. "Okay here's your cardigan. I would ask what you did in order to get that many holes in it but frankly, I don't care," said Nami. "Are you sure you don't want to here about it? It's really cool!"

Yet another calm day in the sea, they already settled on going to a nearby island in an attempt to get a new ship. If they wanted to be recognized as pirates, they would need a bigger ship than what they already have.

"Does anyone know anything about the island we're going to?" asked Zoro. "Well it has a small town called Syrup Village though there is a rich family living there who we could ask for a ship!" Nami could see the clear flaws from his plan, "Yea… rich people get along REAL well with pirates don't they… How are you going to get them to give you a ship?" Luffy rocked back and forth, "I'll just ask them."

"It feels like talking to a wall," said Nami. "Well this wall convinced us to join him," added Zoro. "I'm having a harder time believing that than the fact that he ate three devil fruits," she said. "Hey! We're stuck with him! You should feel sorry for us!" said Mizu. "Why is everyone against me?" asked Luffy. "Ehh… Don't worry, he can be smart when he wants to be," said Jikan. "Thanks!"

After a short while they reached the island, the beach surrounded a plateau holding a forest and probably the town deep within. "It seems like a nice place," says Nami. Then Chou Chou starts barking at the hill. "Trouble…" says Zoro. Hundreds of pirate flags then come out the trees and bushes surrounding the smaller crew. Down from a tree placed on the edge of the cliff falls down a long-nosed teen whose face resembles the flags being waved around, "THIS TERRITORY AND TOWN BELONG TO THE GREAT USOPP PIRATES! I AM THE GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP AND I COMMAND YOU BUGGY PIRATES TO TURN BACK OR FACE THE WRATH OF MY CREW OF 80 MILLION MEN!"

Silence…

"His story is even less believable than the forest guardian…" said Nami. "Forest guardian?" asks Zoro who missed the entire event. "AHH! They saw through my lie!" Nami smirked but before she could say anything Luffy whispered to her, "Let's have a little fun with him." She looked at him before turning back to Usopp with the same smirk as before, "Actually, you just told us it was a lie!"

"AHH! YOU TRICKED ME!" he flinched for a bit before three kids jumped out of the bushes and run away for their lives, "DON'T LEAVE!" He turns back to the invaders and pulls out his slingshot, "This is my last warning! Turn back or I will shoot you!" Luffy smirked and looked at Usopp straight on the eyes, "Guns are actions, not words. Now you've pulled out your weapon, but are you truly willing to use it?" The group marveled at the wise words that actually came out of his mouth.

"I told you he was smart when he wants to be."

Usopp, scared by the disembodied voice, accidently lets go of the lead star hitting Luffy right in between the eyes. The star penetrates through and Luffy falls down to the ground. "I-I killed him?" asks Usopp. Nami and Zoro look at him with half lidded eyes, "I-I mean, uhh… YEA! I KILLED HIM! AND IF YOU DON'T GO BACK FROM WHERE YOU CAME, I'LL KILL YOU TOO!" His legs were visibly shaking the entire time. Then Usopp hears a weird sound of water sloshing behind him, he turns around to find an aqueous blob.

"AAAAHHHHHH! MONSTER!" he attempts to run away but the 'monster' stretches his arms catching Usopp as he screams, "AAAAAAHHHHHH! PLEASE! DON'T EAT ME! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! I'M TO PRETTY TO DIE! EAT THEM INSTEAD!" The blob then slowly begins to form into a normal person, first legs then the body and finally the head revealing the monster to actually be Luffy with a childish grin. His arms still in their water form suspending Usopp in the air.

"YOU'RE NOT DEAD!"

"Shishishi! Nope! I just pretended to be!" he set Usopp down and his back turned back to normal, the liar was still scared out of his mind. Usopp fell on his back and comically crawled through the beach and was stopped by a pair of legs; he looked up only to find Zoro giving him a serious glare. "Don't worry," said Luffy, "We aren't here to hurt anyone!" Usopp was able to break eye contact with the swordsman and was now looking at the raven-haired boy, "My name is Monkey D. Luffy!" He stretched out his hand at the cowardly man, "Umm… uh… I-I'm Usopp…"

"EEHHH! YOU'VE MET MY FATHER!" the crew was now sitting at a small restaurant making acquaintance with their new friend. "YWEP!" said Luffy with his mouth stuffed to the brim of food. "LWESSH TWALKING MWORE EATHING!" said Mizu eating his share of the food that went down Luffy's throat, he and Jikan already introduced themselves to the liar resulting in a near heart attack. "**GULP **He was an excellent sharpshooter! He could shoot an apple from farther than half a kilometer **(A/N: metric system motherf**kers!)**! I also recall him mentioning you a lot!"

"I never knew you're friends with Red-Hair Shanks," said Zoro as he took another swig from his bottle. "I know it's a bit hard to believe, but he was the one who inspired me in becoming a pirate!" "So that hat is his?" asks Nami who Luffy replies with a nod. "So you guys are pirates?" asks Usopp. "Yep! Zoro is the first mate and Nami is my navigator."

"I'M NOT YOUR NAVIGATOR!" she shouted. Usopp got startled by the outbreak, "Scary…" he murmured. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Nami punched Usopp into the ground knocking him unconscious. A few minutes later, he regained conscious and had a few band-aids on his face, "Why did you guys come to this humble village of ours?" Luffy jumps up in excitement before answering, "We came here to get a new ship! We were actually planning on asking the person that lives on that big house over there to give us one!" The rest of the group look out the window to where Luffy is pointing, in the distance was a white mansion on top of the biggest hill in the island.

"Wow! That place looks real pretty. Maybe they could give us a boat."

"AHH! I FORGOT!" Usopp grabs his duffle bag and starts jogging on a fixed position, "It was knowing you… five… but I need to go! Cya later!" he sprints down out the door heading towards the mansion on the cliff. "Seems like an interesting guy, he is a bit of a coward though," says Zoro. "I'm sure he'll get better over time, just because you fear something doesn't mean you're a coward." The door of the restaurant is then flung open, the three kids from before walk in and stand to the side of the table where the pirates are sitting.

"Hey! Where is our captain!" one shouted, they all lifted up their make-do weapons in a battle stance. "You really want to know?" says Zoro with a devilish smirk. Luffy then turns into the water blob from before, this time with its mouth open, "We ate him!" The boys look startled at the monster in front of them, they then look at Nami who is just watching the spectacle. "WITCH!" they shout. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A WITCH?!" she shouts back. This causes the three boys to faint onto the ground unconscious as Luffy and Zoro laugh.

After the three boys wake up and introduce themselves as Onion, Pepper and Carrot, the crew set out towards the mansion to find Usopp and get a new ship. On the way there, the boys tell them about Usopp's story with the girl who lives in the mansion, Kaya, and how her parents died from a disease. "There he is," says Pepper once they arrived at the house. From their position, they were able to see Usopp on a tree branch talking to a girl whose skin seem extremely pale from her sickness. But when Usopp finishes telling her his story, her skin lights up as she laughs along with him.

"Well lets get going!" says Luffy as he proceeds to grab the top of the hedge surrounding the mansion. "TWO DEVIL FRUITS!" shout the young boys at seeing him stretch. "Make that three," says Jikan. "AHH! A GHOST!" Luffy and Nami let out a small chuckle, Zoro shows indifference as he keeps a steady eye on Luffy. "Okay guys! Hold on!" they all hesitantly do so though Nami shows a little more worry knowing how random the boy can be, "Umm… Luffy what are you planning?" He stays silent though Mizu speaks for him, "If I were you I'd hang on a lot harder!"

"Gomu Gomu no ROCKET!" he shoots up on the sky along with the other. Even though Luffy stills hold a huge grin on his face, the others show displeasure on theirs. Nami had comical tears falling off her eyes while Zoro clenched his teeth keeping his eyes wide open and the kids hold gaping mouths screaming all the way. Usopp and Kaya look up at the sky searching for the noise coming from above, finally they see six specks falling down, "What is that?"

A few seconds later, they crash onto the ground filling the area with a dust cloud. "Oww! Baka!" says Nami, "Why did you do th-" she stops what she was saying when she opened her eyes. She had fallen on top of Luffy who just smiled back at her, her hand was placed on top of his chest and their faces was less than a few inches apart. "Hehehe! Sorry!" his words only cause her to blush. "Would you love birds snap out of it and help me with these kids!" shouts Zoro who was trying to bring the boys back to consciousness. "He-HEY!" says Nami while stuttering a bit, "We aren't love bi-"

"Who are you guys?" asks Kaya who interrupted Nami before she could respond to Zoro's remark. "You're Kaya right?" says Luffy, "We wanted to ask you if you could give us a ship!" Usopp looks at them with a weird expression, Kaya notices this, "Hey Usopp, you know these people?" "Huh? Umm… Yea! They heard many stories about me and they wanted to join my pirate crew! They were just leaving, right guys!" Luffy, is still has Nami on top of him, looks at him with indifferent look, "Actually, I was gonna ask you to join my crew." Usopp face changed to disbelief, "Join… you?"

"What are you doing here?" a calm and stern voice came from behind where the group was facing. It came from a man with glossy and dark, green hair that was wearing a tuxedo and weird medallions hanging from his coat. His eyes jumped from face to face finally stopping at Nami and Luffy, "Despite this being private property you cannot do such things in front of public display," he said while lifting up his glasses using the palm of his hand.

"WE WEREN'T DOING ANYTHING!" said Nami, finally getting off of him.

"Listen Clahador, these people are-" before Kaya could continue Clahador interrupted by saying, "No need to explain Miss Kaya. I want you all to leave. Or is there something else you want to say?"

"Can you give us a ship?"

"No!" said Clahador, a depressing aura surrounded Luffy as Zoro patted him on the back. Then butler's eyes caught someone else. "You…" he said referring to Usopp, "You're Usopp right? The villagers have said many things about you." Upon hearing this, Usopp regained his composure, "O-Of course! My reputation precedes me for I am the GREAT, CAPTAIN USOPP!" Once more, Clahador lifts his glasses up, "Oh really? I've heard that you are liar and the son of a filthy pirate."

"Did you say filthy…?" said Usopp, obviously taken back by the remark. "You and Miss Kaya belong to totally different worlds. If it's money you're looking for then name your price?" "CLAHADOR STOP IT!" shouted Kaya. "I'm just telling the truth Miss Kaya" he said before turning back to Usopp, "You hate him, don't you? Because he's a dumb treasure hunter who deserted his family and village."

"CLAHADOR!"

"I won't let you say another bad thing about my father!" said Usopp as anger was rising within him. "Why are you so angry? You're not very smart, are you? You should have just told your usual lies and say that your real father is a travelling merchant or that you and him aren't blood-related." Usopp has had enough, he has never been as furious as he is now in his entire life. But before he could hit the bastard on the face like he deserved, someone else intervened.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" everyone turned their heads to the straw hat wearing boy, "Usopp has done everything he could for Kaya here in order to make her feel better! Can't you see that she is happy with him? That his stories make her laugh every time? That after all this time, he has never asked for a single thing in return? You call his dad a filthy pirate when he and his son are some of the most honest and honorable men I have ever met! If you want to know a pirate that is truly filthy as you say then you should look at yourself… Kuro!"

Silence filled the area, birds chirped around the tree and everyone remained shocked for a bit. Finally, Kuro spoke losing a bit of his composure, "I'm sick and tired of you and you're lies coming from you and Usopp," he turned around and began to walk away, "If you want that ship it's yours but I don't want any of you to come back here… especially you Usopp. You are no longer welcome here to speak to Miss Kaya any longer." The long-nosed man trembled in his anger before jumping over to another branch and then over the hedge, "USSOP!" shouted Kaya but he was already gone.

Usopp sat on the edge of one on top of the huge, steep cliffs that surrounded the plateau. His mind thought about the fight he had with Clahador and the possibility of never seeing Kaya again, the poor girl must be even more so depressed than ever even with the loss of her parents. But soon his mind wandered about his dad and of what Luffy told him, "A sharpshooter…" he whispered as he looked down on his slingshot.

He was so into thought that he barely noticed Luffy sitting right next to him, his legs dangling on the edge of the cliff, "Hey Usopp, are you okay?" He responded with a nod, "Well, at least you got your ship. I guess you will be going now." Luffy looked at the horizon, "Clahador said that they're tweaking the ship, apparently a wave hit it recently damaging all the wood" 'Yea… I wonder what happened,' said Mizu. "You can come with us if you'd like." He hummed, thinking seriously about the request, "I would but, then Kaya would be very sad if she heard that I was gone for good, not only that but I'd be doing what that butler wants me to do."

"What's your dream Usopp?" he looked at Luffy in surprise, "Everyone in the crew has a dream, Zoro wants to be the world's greatest swordsman, Nami wants to draw a map of the entire world, even Chou Chou has a dream to defend that which he treasures most."

"That dog?"

"Yea."

"That's a funny name!"

"Shishishi! My point is Usopp, if you want to be in this crew, you need to have a dream or goal. If you're willing to do anything to achieve that, no matter how cruel or evil the person maybe, they are always welcome on my crew." Usopp looked at him, his mind was finally made up, and he stood up and said, "I-I-I want to be like my father I want to be a brave warrior of the seas! Then when I come back, I'll have tons of stories to tell Kaya!"

Luffy smiled at him, that's the Usopp he remembers, the one he missed after all those years. He looked down and saw two men walking towards each other. 'It's time for the show to begin,' said Jikan. "Oi! Usopp! Get down!" he told him in a whisper as he pulled him down. "Huh? That's Clahador but who's the other weird looking guy?"

"Jango," said Clahador, "I told you not to draw the attention of the villagers. Why did you sleep in the middle of the street?"

"How can I attract any attention?" said Jango, "It's not like I'm weird or something!" Kuro lifted up his glasses, "So… are you all prepared for it?"

"Of course! We can start operation 'Assassinate the Rich Girl' **(A/N: I don't remember the name) **at any moment!" Usopp looked startled, "What? They're planning to kill Kaya!" Luffy place his hand on Usopp's mouth,"SSSHHH!" A moment passed without wither of them saying something. Then, Jango spoke, "What's wrong, Captain Kuro?"

"Don't say that name… I gave it up three years ago. Yet, somebody knew…"

"Somebody?"

"Yes," he lifted up his glasses, "A kid wearing a straw hat and cardigan called me Kuro in front of everyone, I was able to pass it off as a lie but if he alerts the rest of the village, then the whole plan could be compromised."

"But how could he have found out?"

"Want me to elaborate?" the two men looked up the cliff and saw Luffy standing out in the open while Usopp tried to pull him down to the ground, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU BLEW OUR COVER! NOW THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US!" Luffy then jumped off the cliff and landed on his feet, "Your name precedes you Kuro of a Thousand Plans, former captain of the Black Cat Pirates and a bounty of 16,000,000 Beli." Kuro let out a smirk as he fixed the position of his glasses again, "Right you are, I assume you have a reason to jump out into the open making yourself known to us."

"Actually I do, I came here to warn you not to lay a finger on Kaya and to leave this village alone… And ask you to join my crew!" "ARE YOU INSANE!" said Usopp from above. "You have a dream don't you? You want to find serenity and peace in life but in order to do so you faked your death to escape the marines and you have to kill Kaya to inherit her riches and pass it off as an accident so that people don't get suspicious. It was a perfect plan but you disregarded one thing."

"And what would that be?"

"Me! This plan will fail as long as me and my crew are in the picture. So I give you another option, join us and I'll help you achieve your dream." Usopp remained silent through the speech, _"…no matter how cruel or evil the person maybe, they are always welcome to join my crew." _Kuro began to chuckle, but then it went on a full on laughter, "HUAHUAHUA! That's an interesting proposition you have kid but my plans never fail. Why would I join you to achieve my dream when I could easily achieve it as of tomorrow?"

"Then how about this, you can carry out your plan and we will try to stop you. If we succeed, you join but if we lose I'll join you."

"And what powers do you have that could make me want you to join my crew?"

"You'll just have to wait until tomorrow!"

Kaya lay on her bed like always. Her pillow was covered in wet patches from tears caused by the confrontation between Ussop and Clahador. She honestly thought she would never see Ussop again, that he would go sail the seas with his new friends. That's when an idea came to mind, Clahador told them that they were replacing some parts of the ship. Her mind was then set on the orange-haired girl and the raven-haired boy who defended her friend's honor and bloodline. "Merry!" she called for. "Yes Miss Kaya!" he said in a sheep-sounding manner. "I would like some changes to be made on the Going Merry!"

"Are you sure this will work?" asks Nami. The four-man crew was ready for battle, it was near morning and the final preparations were being made. She had her Bo staff ready to go and Zoro had two katanas in hand while Usopp dumped oil all around the slope for when the pirates arrived. "I'm sure! Nothing will be able to get pass through this, they won't even get a chance to hit us!"

The first rays of lights were coming out of the horizon signaling the beginning of the battle, but not a single soul was in sight, "He said that the fight would begin at dawn but I don't see the ship anywhere." The others looked confused as well, "Maybe he tricked us?" suggested Zoro. "No even if Kuro is traitorous type he wouldn't break an agreement," said Luffy. After a while of thinking something snapped in Ussop's mind, "EHH! I FORGOT! THERE ARE TWO SLOPES UP THE ISLAND! THEY MUSTVE GONE TO THE OTHER ONE!"

"WHAT?!" they all shouted. "MY TREASURE!" added Nami before getting a head start, she remembered the other slope being where their boats are along with her treasure. 'Why are you mad Luffy?' said Mizu, 'You forgot about that too.' Luffy ignored the comment made by the water devil, "Usopp! Is the oil water soluble?" The sniper looked at him with a confused look, "Huh? I think so…" Luffy brings out water from the ocean and completely covers the oil with it. The black substance becomes one with the water leaving a light dark color liquid, "Alright! Lets go!"

Meanwhile

"Where are those kids?" asked one of the Black Cat Pirates, the sun was almost completely out and still no sign from the other crew. "Lets just attack the village and get this over with!" said another. "NO! If Kuro found out he would kill us!" one said. "I doubt it! They agreed on not attacking any one except people from the opposing crew!"

"HEY GUYS! LOOK!" shouted one of them. "There is a whole bunch of treasure on the boats over here!" "ARF!" Chou Chou, who just came from a little walk, began barking at the pirates on the boats, "AHH! A dog!" said one of the pirates terrified of the small animal. "HEY! LEAVE ALONE MY TREASURE!" Nami shouted from the top of the slopes. "Who is that girl?"

"I think she is their captain's lover!"

"HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" shouted Nami yet she had a quite visible blush on her cheeks. "NAMI WAIT!" said Luffy who just entered the scene with Zoro, Ussop and the oil filled water. "What is that thing?" one Black Cat Pirate wondered. "It looks like black water." Luffy sets it on the floor and in one quick movement, the water separates from the oil leaving the slippery substance on the slope. "HE HAS DEVIL FRUIT POWERS!" shout the pirates. "Thank you!" says Luffy, "And for my next trick… Mizu Mizu no Wave!" The water, which was once mixed with oil, turned into a wave hitting the pirates head on knocking most of them against their boat or onto the sea.

"What are you guys waiting for attack!" says Jango, being the first one on getting back up, the rest of the pirates charged towards the group and ran up the slope but as soon as they stepped on the oil, they slid down back to the bottom. "What is that?"

"Its oil!"

"Damn it how do we get up there?"

"Don't worry boys, we will bring the fight to you!" Luffy, Zoro and Nami jumped over the oil sleek and began to face the pirates head on while Usopp backed them up from afar. Luffy attacked with a combination of rubber and water attacks surprising the pirates. Zoro knocked out the swordsmen of the crew using the sides of his swords. Nami did the same against the pirates who underestimated as an easy target and Usopp shot down the gunners before they could get a clear shot of his nakama. Within less of a few minutes, all of the pirates were knocked on the ground.

"Come on is that all you got?" shouted Jango. "They're too strong, their monsters!" Jango smiled at them, "So it's a matter of strength, ehh?" he pulled out his ring and held it by its chord. "Look out!" said Nami. "He is a hypnotist," continued Zoro, "If you look at that ring he can put you in a trance!" Jango began moving the ring side to side, "At the count of one, two, Jango, all your wounds will be healed and you will become stronger than ever before!"

"We have to stop him!" said Zoro but Luffy put his arm in front of him before he could move forward. "What are you doing Luffy?" asked Nami, "We have to stop him!" Before she could do anything else, the countdown began. "One, two…" he pulled his hat down covering his eyes, "…JANGO!" A shockwave shook the area as the downed Black Cat members got up, their muscles grew significantly and they roared a battle cry. One of them stood in front of a cliff next to the slope, he punched the massive rock and the edge broke into a thousand pieces. The crew, with the exception of Luffy gaped in awe.

"That guy… he just leveled the entire rock!" said Zoro. The Black Cat pirates charged once more. Luffy slowly began walking towards him with his hat covering his eyes. "Luffy! What are you doing?" said Nami. "YOU'LL GET YOURSELF KILLED!" shouted Ussop. The opposing crew got closer and closer, they swung their swords at him and in response, another shockwave filled the air…

Time seemed to have stopped at that moment. Nobody dared to move a muscle. Then one by one, the pirates began falling down unconscious until the only one left was Jango. "What-What just happened?" said the sniper. "Haki…" answered a voice behind them. They turned around to find Captain Kuro walking out of the forest with a duffle bag of his own, "You fail to disappoint me straw-hat. I've been wrong to underestimate you." He set the bag down and he pulled down the zipper revealing two gloves with long blades representing claws, one for each finger, "Now I see that I may stand no chance against you, but I will still fight you to achieve my dream." As he said this, he put the gloves and readjusted his glasses using the same gesture.

"These guys are stronger than we thought! All of our men are out!" said Jango, "Wait! We still have those two! SHAM! BUSHI! GET OVER HERE!" From the front of the Black Cat's pirate ship, jumped down two shadows, "I'm Sham!" said the small and skinny one. "And I'm Bushi!" said the fat and large one, "And we are the Meowban brothers!" Both men carried unique, cat like apparel different than the ones used by the crew. "MEOWBAN BROTHERS! ATTACK THEM!" demanded Jango. The reaction that the two had was not expected, "You mean those guys?"

"They look too tough for us!

"Especially the green-haired man!"

"We are just ship guards! We aren't accustomed to battle!" The two kept talking to each other while walking towards Zoro and clawing the air in front of them. "What is wrong with these two? Are they really their last hope?" asked the confused swordsman. "ZORO! LOOK OUT! IT'S JUST AN ACT!" warned Luffy. Realizing they've been found out, the brothers charged at Zoro but the warning came soon enough that he already had his swords ready to go.

The fat one jumped into the air above Zoro to body slam him. He evaded just in time only to be met by the berserk slashes coming from Sham's claw. Zoro blocked the attacks and swung at the green haired cosplayer who also evaded the attack. Again Bushi tried to body slam him and failed again. The swordsman took the chance and as soon as Bushi lifted himself up, Zoro sliced through him leaving three massive wounds on the guy's belly. "Bushi!" screamed Sham. "OI! ZORO! DON'T KILL HIM! THEY'RE FUTURE NAKAMA!" shouted Luffy. "Don't worry! All that blubber on him kept me from getting any of his vitals."

"YOU…! YOU HURT MY BROTHER!" Sham charged at Zoro but was hit by lead star sending him to the side. "Good shot!" commented Luffy. Usopp responded with a grin. "HEY! THAT WASN'T FA-" **THUNK **Sham was hit on the head with Zoro's hilt before he had a chance on getting back up, he fell back on the ground unconsciousness. "DAMN IT!" shouts Jango, he ran towards Bushi with his ring on hand, "One the count of one, two, Jango you will-" **BONK **"I don't think so!" said Nami hitting Jango on the head before he could begin the trance. Now the only person left was Kuro.

In an instant, the butler began on his assault. He disappears from sight and before any of the Straw Hats could react, his claw went straight through Luffy. "LUFFY!" shouted Ussop. "Don't worry, he does this often to scare us," says Zoro. Kuro pulls his claws away from the boy noticing that the blades were now drenched with water. "Mizu Mizu no Rust!" the water on the blades seeped inside and the blades rusted near immediately, soon the fell apart. "A logia devil fruit user, physical attacks do nothing to you. What confuses me is that I saw you stretch over the hedge when you arrived to the mansion."

"I have eaten more then one Devil Fruit, the Gomu Gomu, the Mizu Mizu, and the Jikan Jikan fruits," Luffy said with a grin, "I will do anything to accomplish my dream of becoming King of the Pirates, as well as help those who also wish to reach their dreams." Captain Kuro responded with a quick readjustment of his glasses, "I see, but like I told you I'll still fight you even if I will lose." His head and arms fell limp and he began swaying from side to side, "While your haki can tell you where I am, you still won't be able to reach a target that moves faster than you can."

Kuro's image began to fade as the swaying became faster and faster. "We'll see about that! Jikan Jikan no Future sight!" Luffy's eyes glew their color as he stared into nothing. Now Kuro is nowhere to be seen, deep scratches appear out of seemingly nowhere. One grazes near Usopp making him scream yet again. "Luffy! Do something before he cuts us into ribbons!" said Zoro, his swords raised in a defensive. He feels something hit against his swords a few times. Luffy doesn't move or blink as the attacks get worse and worse.

Then a slash mark appears on Nami's clothes nearly hitting her stomach, "KYAAAAAH!" In less than a second, Luffy swiftly moves his arm towards the side with his hand wide open. He closes his hand and… "Urrgh!" The Black Cat pirates' captain is being held by his throat. Luffy's eyes stop glowing, "Mizu Mizu no Cocoon." Water from the sea envelopes Kuro into a tight hold. Luffy lets go of him and he falls down on the floor, any attempts to move are quickly halted by the water around his body.

"Looks like the battle is over," snorted Luffy. Kuro struggled for a bit more before finally calming down. The cocoon disperses and the water seeps into the earth, Kuro stands back up while readjusting his glasses yet again. "It appears so, captain," he said admitting defeat.

A few hours later, the pirates, with the exception of Kuro, have left the island to later regroup with the Straw Hat pirates. Luffy, Zoro, and Nami walked down back to beach where the battle took place along with Kaya, Merry and Kuro who have a little surprise for them. Once they reached the slope, they could a caravel with its figurehead resembling that of a goat.

"Here it is," said Kaya. "You're really giving us your ship?" asked Zoro, she responded with a small nod. "Its name is the Going Merry, my family used it to take pleasure cruises but I'm sure it'll be of better use to you." Luffy stretched up onto the ship and looked around being happy to see Merry once more, 'It's just like I remember! The figurehead, the mast, the rails, the stairs, the doors that were never there…. What?' Next to the stairs were a few more doors than usual. He opened up and inspected each new room; two of them had beds for many people to bunk in and the one in the middle had only one bed that was just slightly bigger than the rest.

Luffy looked back down to see Merry explaining Nami how the ship operates and Kuro talking to Kaya, "You're leaving?"

Kuro nodded, "I decided to join these pirates to achieve a dream of my own Miss Kaya. I'm sorry for the things I've done and I hope you will forgive me one day."

"Oi! Kaya!" shouted Luffy. The group of people diverted their attention back to Luffy, "What's up with the doors over here?"

"I asked the shipwrights to make a few changes to Merry as a little thanks for standing up for Ussop. The room on the right are the women's quarters and the room on the left are the men's quarters," Then she turned to face Nami, "I also asked them to build another room for you two."

"Us… two…"

"Hmm… I'm sorry we couldn't get a bigger bed, but I'm sure you don't mind sleeping close to Luffy."

"HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND! Honestly what have we done that hinted people into that?" –Cough-

"Hey wait, where's Usopp?" brought out Zoro.

"OI! WAIT FOR ME!"

"There he is." Usopp came running full speed to them carrying a massive bag full of belongings. He then tripped on the slope making him roll towards the ship but Zoro stopped him before damaging their new vessel.

"You're leaving too, Ussop?" asked Kaya.

"I am, I want to set out to become like my dad! To be a brave warrior of the seas! Then when I come back, I'll have many more stories to tell you!"

She gave a silent nod and tears came from her eyes as she said goodbye to her old friend. The pirates, now aided with a new ship and with two new crewmates, set out to their next adventure to find a curly-browed cook.

* * *

**DONE! I would first like to say I'm sorry if it seems like I'm rushing because I sort of am. I want to get of the Will of D zone so that way I can put new ideas into the fanfiction in greater extent. Also I know I took Animaniac dude's idea of adding a captain's quarter on the Merry but I wanted to do it for… smutty reasons… That's right… I may be adding smut on this fic but you will have to wait for quite a few chapters to get there. Next episode we're getting to Baratie to meet... *sigh* Sanji... I'm just going to say it, I don't like Sanji though I am not going to pick on him a lot, only when it comes to LuNa moments so don't worry Sanji fans, I'll still make the cook look awesome. Finally, for those confused why Nami was able to hurt Mizu without hurting Luffy is for the same reason she can hurt the rubber man without knowing haki, he hit his soul (read the trivia for Nami on the wiki to see that Oda confirms this). Please leave a review in ways I can improve, any mistakes I've made, or just telling me I'm doing a good job! Thank you my adoring fans!**


	5. ANNOUNCEMENT

**Hey guys special announcement!**

**I'm abandoning the story... Nah just kidding but it will be in a kinda hiatus as I really need to improve my story telling skills. Then there is the fact that the finals are coming in a month or so and lots of crap is going on in my life so I've had very little time to work on the fic and the time I do have is spent on playing a certain MOBA style game.**

**So here's what's happening, I'm making a short story series from the universe of my fanfiction A Map to Remember Her By or AMRHB for short. Warning they will contain spoilers for future chapters and the reason I'm doing this is that I can practice on making the characters better as I've never been good making a story that is based on more than 5 people.**

**I'll be updating the original story but in an extremely slow pace, once I feel like I've improved a lot the story will be back in full swing. Stay tuned for the first story of the new series!**

**Lonely Wayfarer**


	6. Another Fing Announcement

**Another f***ing update**

**Hey guys, first I'd like to apologize for bringing your hopes up. The hiatus is going to last a lot longer than what I expected as my laptop broke down and I had all my outlines and notes in there. Also I'm thinking of rewriting the story because I forgot to add tons of bits that were supposed to affect the story in the future but I forgot about them as I wrote the chapters. I promised I would not abandon this fic and so I won't but you'll have to bare with me on this one. If you want a small read and know kind of why I hate Sanji then check out my bio, also I'm thinking of writing two stories with one of the being related to my main series. The one I'm going to do now will come out sometime next week maybe sooner. Again sorry for making another update chapter but I just thought you guys should know.**


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